


Broken

by Sadmuse (Aleigh75)



Series: Breaking the rules [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, HP: EWE, Time Travel, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:55:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3404669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aleigh75/pseuds/Sadmuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry wins the fight against Voldemort, but everything goes horribly wrong due to a Death Eater on a rampage. Ron & Ginny find this unacceptable...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll say right off the bat, I'm ignoring the suggested five hour limit on time-turners. I just needed more time because I couldn’t leave Fred dead. Also, this is really, graphically violent. Several major characters die initially. HORRIBLY. If that's not your thing, or you can't accept a few tweaks to canon, please move on. I had someone argue stuff that wasn't even canon on my last story, and I'm really not in the mood for it to happen again...
> 
> Oh...and there's no real explicit smut in this one. The rating is for violence. But there is smut in the sequel! Both this story and the sequel are completely written, I just can't post the whole thing at once...it's kind of long.
> 
> Lastly...It goes without saying, but I don't own them, I'm just borrowing them for a while!!!

Ginny impatiently flicked her long red hair out of her face as she knelt beside an injured seventh year Hufflepuff girl. She couldn't remember her fellow student's name, and when she asked, the girl just kept asking for her mother. Ginny was struggling to stop the flow of blood from a large, gaping wound on the girl's stomach, but was having little success. She watched helplessly as the girl became weaker and weaker, knowing that time was quickly running out. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was just about quarter to three in the morning. Fifteen minutes had already passed since Voldemort had given Harry one more hour to surrender. People were rushing around in the dark trying to get the injured inside before the fighting resumed. 

At a loss as to how to help the wounded girl, Ginny desperately called, "Madame Pomfrey! Help!"

Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas, who were passing by carrying a limp, blanket-wrapped form, paused, "Pomfrey's up in the Great Hall. What's left of it. She's working on Trelawney. Don't think she's gonna make it," Dean murmured regretfully before the two moved on.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Ginny muttered frantically. Hearing footsteps approaching, she paused to listen, but could not figure out where they were coming from in the darkness. 

"I want to go home," the injured girl whispered breathlessly, "I just want to go home."

"You're going to be fine," Ginny lied, choking back tears. The knees of her jeans were soaked with the girl's blood, and she knew she didn't have much longer. She checked her watch again. It was nearly three o'clock.

Hearing more footsteps, these ones sounding closer, she turned her head and gasped. Draco Malfoy, covered in soot from head to toe and his upper lip crusted with dried blood, was heading straight for her. As he got closer he glanced at the fallen girl, frowned and pulled out his wand.

"Stop! There's a truce!" Ginny exclaimed, raising her own wand.

"I know," he murmured softly. "I can help her," he added, crouching beside the girl, his shoulder brushing Ginny's. Leaning over, he briefly examined the girl's wound, then said, "Vulnera Sanentur!"

Ginny watched in stunned surprise as all the blood surrounding the other girl slowly seeped back into the wound, which proceeded to close over as if it had been zipped shut.

"She should be alright now," Draco smiled wearily at Ginny as he stood up. "Take care," he added almost in a whisper before nodding his head politely and walking away. 

Ginny finally shook herself from her shocked state when she realized he was leaving. Whirling around, she yelled, "Thank you!" after Draco's receding form.

He paused for a moment and she barely heard his murmured response, "It was the least I could do," before he continued onward. He was quickly swallowed by a cloud of drifting smoke.

"I-I feel better," the Hufflepuff girl rasped a few minutes later, struggling to sit up, "I thought I was gonna die. How did you do that?" She asked, running her hand over the red, raised scar left behind by her wound.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ginny mumbled, shaking her head slightly. "Here, let's get you inside..." she offered, holding out her hand and gently pulling the girl to her feet when it was accepted. 

They slowly made their way up to the castle. The older girl seemed to feel better and better the closer they got to the castle. Ginny finally got her into the Great Hall, where Madame Sprout immediately took her under her care, fussing over the girl and leading her over to a nearby bench after thanking Ginny profusely. 

Ginny slipped away as soon as possible. Sighing sadly, she went to spend a few moments sitting beside her brother Percy, who was weeping in a corner beside the pale, blood covered corpse of their brother Fred. Ginny was devastated by the loss of her mischievous sibling, but Percy was absolutely inconsolable. Ginny soon became too overwhelmed by his grief to be able to force herself to sit still any longer. "I love you, Perce. He loved you too..." she whispered, kissing his cheek as she rose to find some new way to keep herself busy.

When she turned away, she nearly tripped over Lavender Brown, who was lying on a pallet of blankets on the floor. The blonde Gryffindor's neck and left shoulder were bleeding heavily through the thick bandages wrapped around them, and although she was clearly unconscious, she was twitching and moaning in pain. Ginny backed away in horror. It was one thing to help a girl she didn't know, but seeing a friend suffering so was terrifying. 

Just as she turned away, determined to leave the Hall, Neville and Luna walked up carrying another blanket-wrapped figure. When they laid the bundle down, a corner of the blanket fell away, revealing Colin Creevey. His face was frozen, eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. His skin was gray and pasty.

"Oh gods..." Ginny whimpered, her heart rate skyrocketing as she suddenly found it difficult to breath. Colin was in her year. He was supposed to have left before the fighting began, just like she was.

"Hey, it's going to be alright," her brother Ron was suddenly beside her, hugging her gently in a rather uncharacteristic display of empathy. "Don't panic. And don't forget to breath,"

"I didn't think it was going to be this bad..." Ginny admitted sheepishly, trying to follow his advice and take deep breaths. "Where's Harry? And Hermione?"

Ron frowned sadly. "He went to turn himself over to Voldemort," he murmured, looking like he was going to be sick. "He found out he's a horcrux," Ron shrugged helplessly, and let out a heavy sigh. 

Ginny shot him a confused look. "A what?"

Ron slapped himself lightly on the forehead, then explained. "He has a piece of Voldemort's soul in him. If he kills Voldemort while it's still there, Voldemort will be able to use it to come back again. Harry has to die to destroy the piece of soul, so, he's headed to the Forest to sacrifice himself."

"He has to die?!" Ginny gasped, horrified. She was no longer in love with her ex boyfriend, but she did still love him, and her eyes filled with tears at the thought of him dying. There had already been too much death that day.

"Yes," Ron murmured miserably, "Hermione isn't taking it very well. She wanted to go with him, but he wouldn't let her. You know Harry," he smiled sadly and Ginny nodded. "She's over there staring at the woods," he pointed through a large hole in the wall between the Great Hall and the entrance hall, where the curly haired girl was leaning against the frame of the front door, gazing longingly toward the Forbidden Forest.

"She's in love with him," Ginny murmured. "I knew he was in love with her, but I wasn't sure if she felt the same way."

"You knew?" Ron asked, looking surprised. 

"Honestly Ron...did it make any sense for him to break up with me and leave me behind for my own good when he let you two tag along?" Ginny snorted. "I'm not stupid. He was letting me down easy."

"I know," Ron grinned sheepishly, "I just didn't know you knew. I'm not even sure he knew."

"This is so sad," Ginny sighed, biting her lip hard to try to keep from crying. "He doesn't deserve all this crap. He deserves to be happy. It isn't fair,"

"I know," Ron murmured, exhaling slowly. "I guess we can't always get what we want,"

"Are you going to be okay?" Ginny whispered. 

"About 'Mione?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. Ginny nodded hesitantly. "Yeah. I kissed her a while ago, but kissing her just felt awkward and wrong. Like kissing...you!" He exclaimed, wrinkling his nose.

"Ew!" Ginny exclaimed, pretending to gag.

"Exactly," Ron chuckled softly. "How about you?"

"I've had a year to get over him, I'm fine," Ginny shrugged, meaning every word. "Not that I want him to die. Are you sure he's this horcrux thing?"

Ron nodded sadly, "When You-know-who cursed him as a baby, he accidentally left part of his soul inside the scar. That's why it hurt him whenever You-know-who was angry and how Harry could see into his head sometimes. Dumbledore suspected ever since he found out about the horcruxes."

"How did Harry find out about all of this?" Ginny wondered aloud. 

"Turns out Snape really was Dumbledore's right hand man all along. He shared some memories with Harry just before he died." Ron shrugged. 

"Snape's dead?!" Ginny gasped.

"Yeah. Just before You-know-who called for Harry this last time," Ron sighed. "Apparently, Dumbledore was dying all last year from that curse on his hand. He made Snape promise to kill him so the ferret wouldn't have to,"

"Really? Then why didn't he just help Draco get out of the position of having to kill him in the first place?" Ginny frowned, "He obviously didn't want to."

"Since when do we call the ferret by his first name?" Ron asked incredulously. 

"Since he saved a girl from bleeding to death in my arms just now," Ginny mumbled. 

Ron blinked. "That's not like him," he murmured bemusedly.

"I don't know. I don't think he really wants to be a Death Eater. He's not very good at it. I saw him stand up to the Carrows for this little first year Ravenclaw a few weeks ago. She'd gotten stuck in a corridor that was off limits. The staircase dumped her there." Ginny told him. He raised a questioning eyebrow and she nodded affirmatively, "He told them to leave her alone and sent her on her way. They crucio'd him for mouthing off."

"Wow," Ron murmured. "The Prince of Slytherin has a heart? Who knew? Maybe 'Mione was right. Maybe he didn't identify us at his parents' place on purpose."

"Duh," Ginny muttered. "He had to recognize you and Hermione, if not Harry. And remember how miserable he seemed all last year? I think maybe he isn't that big a fan of You-know-who."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron muttered. "Maybe I won't punch the git next time I see him," he mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Just then, a loud shout came from outside. Ginny turned to look and saw Hermione staring wide eyed out at the courtyard, her hand clasped over her mouth. Glancing outside through one of the shattered windows, Ginny swallowed nervously at the sight of a small army of Death Eaters marching across the bridge spanning the ravine between the castle and the front gates. "Oh gods...they're coming back!"

Ron grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the front doors, joining the rush of people now racing out to the courtyard. Hermione grabbed his other arm as they passed and the three hurried down the front steps just as Voldemort practically pranced into the courtyard, smiling from ear to ear.

"No! Harry! No!" Hermione screamed, bolting forward as the Dark Lord stepped to the side, revealing Hagrid, in chains, with Harry cradled limply in his arms. The half-giant was weeping brokenly. Hermione sobbed loudly and fell to her knees when Ron grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her to prevent her from lunging at Voldemort, who had marched right up to them, laughing giddily.

"As you can see...Harry Potter is dead!" The Dark Lord announced happily, "Struck down as he attempted to run away!"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at this, knowing he was lying. Ignoring the psychotic bastard, she knelt beside Ron and Hermione, trying to help her brother console the hysterical witch. Tears blurred her vision as she watched her friend grieving for the boy she herself had once loved. Hermione's agonized shrieks and sobs blocked out whatever Voldemort was saying.

"Draco! Draco!" The name caught Ginny's attention as Hermione's screams died down slightly. She raised her eyes and saw Lucius Malfoy frantically making beckoning gestures toward a spot off to her left. Following his gaze, she spotted Draco standing near the doors. He was looking down at his feet, acting as though he hadn't heard his father calling to him. "Draco!" Lucius hissed loudly. 

Ginny realized that Voldemort was beginning to take notice of their behavior and feared Draco's days were seriously numbered if he didn't obey his father, and soon. Draco finally raised his eyes, and they briefly met her own. She inhaled sharply, seeing the hopeless, trapped expression on his face just before he let out a heavy sigh and finally began walking toward his parents. 

Before he could reach the elder Malfoys, Voldemort suddenly stepped into his path. Draco flinched and Ginny cringed instinctively, but the Dark Lord merely held his arms wide, crooning, "Dear Draco!" and embraced him awkwardly. Draco visibly shuddered when they made contact, his own arms remaining stiffly at his sides. The moment Voldemort released him, he moved away, rushing to his mother's side. Ginny slowly let out the breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding. To her surprise, Draco looked right at her again, his eyes filled with shame, before lowering his head again.

"No, Harry...please! No!" As Hermione's cries increased in volume, Ginny turned her attention back to Harry, staring sadly at his pale white face as Hermione continued to sob beside her. 

"Shhhh...'Mione. Shhhh," Ginny murmured soothingly, "Don't let that bastard see you cry. Harry loved you. He wouldn't want you to hurt like this..."

Hermione hiccuped a few times, then sucked in a deep, shaky breath. Blinking back tears, she nodded slightly and forced herself to her feet. Ginny and Ron rose with her, each keeping one arm around her. Ron grasped Ginny's shoulder, rubbing it gently and she flashed him a faint smile in return.

While she was distracted by Draco and Hermione, Neville had stepped away from the group. He was now only a few feet from Voldemort and seemed to be immobilized. Ginny yelped as the Sorting Hat suddenly covered his head, immediately bursting into flames. She watched in amazement as Neville miraculously shrugged off the spell he was under and pulled the smoldering hat from his head, throwing it down and stomping on it to extinguish the flames. Ginny saw a surprised smile flit across his face and then he pulled a slightly soot-streaked sword from the hat, lunged forward, and cleanly decapitated Voldemort's pet snake in one powerful stroke.

Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, then Ginny heard someone shout "Protego!" just as Voldemort screamed in rage and shot a blast of green light at Neville. The horde of Death Eaters immediately began to advance on those gathered around the castle steps.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped, her voice suddenly more confused than sorrowful.

"What?" Ginny asked distractedly, grabbing her friend's arm and pulling her back as she noticed Bellatrix LeStrange heading toward them.

"Harry's gone," Hermione breathed, "Where'd he go?"

"We've got bigger problems!" Ginny yelped as Bellatrix cast a severing hex at them. "Protego!" Ginny shouted as she waved her wand, blocking the spell. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Luna stepping up beside her just as Hermione finally seemed to realize they were fighting again.

"Confringo!" The brunette yelled, jabbing her wand at Bellatrix

"Stupefy!" Luna sang out, her spell almost hitting the older witch, who began to laugh maniacally. 

Ginny cast another shield charm just as Bellatrix flung a ball of fire their way. As soon as it bounced away, she shouted, "Reducto!" Her spell reflected off Bellatrix' shield and disintegrated a nearby column. 

The other two girls were also alternately flinging curses and taking turns shielding each other, but despite all of their best efforts, Bellatrix was gaining on them. Suddenly, the older witch shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" while Ginny's shield was down. Ginny froze in terror as the spell blasted by just beside her head; it was so close that her hair whipped about in the wind created by its passing. Ginny wondered dazedly how she managed not to soil herself in that moment.

Then, she heard what had to be the most beautiful sound on earth, an angry female voice bellowing, "Not my daughter you bitch!" All three girls stopped and watched in amazement as Ginny's mother stepped between them and their crazed opponent. "Leave her to me, girls!" Molly ordered almost gleefully.

The two older witches began blasting spells at each other, but Bellatrix was still flitting around and laughing, while Molly was clearly in full blown Mamabear mode. After nearly being hit by a few of Molly's curses, Bellatrix frowned somewhat confusedly. Then, Molly hit her full in the face with some sort of freezing charm. A blasting spell followed quickly in its wake, and Voldemort's most loyal follower exploded into tiny pieces.

Voldemort immediately let out an enraged shout and Ginny froze as she realized he was right behind her, Luna and Hermione. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Hermione's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego!" A very familiar voice shouted and the blast of green light from Voldemort's curse suddenly dissipated less than a foot from Hermione's back. The older girl spun about and let out a cry of joy. Ginny turned and grinned at the sight of Harry, back on his feet and facing off against the now infuriated Dark Lord. The black haired wizard was quite deliberately shielding Hermione from Voldemort's view with his own body.

The next few minutes seemed completely surreal as Harry mocked and provoked the Dark Lord, slowly circling around him and skillfully turning his attention to the far side of the courtyard, away from Hermione. 

Suddenly, the two wizards cast on each other...Voldemort predictably shouting the killing curse while Harry (a bit foolishly, Ginny thought) cast "Expelliarmus!"

To everyone's surprise, their spells clashed in midair. The two wizards struggled for a moment, but then Harry's spell won over. The elder wand flew from Voldemort's hand into Harry's and then Voldemort's own spell ricocheted back into his chest. The Dark Lord's eyes widened in surprise, then he dropped to his knees like a ton of bricks before slowly disintegrating. 

For a moment, one could have heard a pin drop. Then, Hermione screamed Harry's name delightedly and moved across the courtyard in a blur, throwing herself into his arms just as he turned and embraced her. Ginny smiled amusedly as the pair both tilted their heads to Harry's right, then to his left before Harry grabbed Hermione's face in both hands, holding her still while he moved back to his right, swooped in, and kissed her deeply. 

Everyone, minus the few remaining Death Eaters who hadn't yet slunk away, let out a joyous cheer and began embracing the couple, patting Harry on the back, arms, and head. Harry, for his part, seemed completely oblivious as he continued to kiss Hermione until they finally parted to breath. Even then, he pulled her close, wrapping his arms tightly around her and resting his forehead against her shoulder as she clutched the back of his jacket in a death grip.

Ginny chuckled as she drew closer and saw the stunned, delighted smile on Hermione's face. The other girl had her eyes closed and was pressing her cheek to Harry's. Everyone nearby was smiling amusedly at the pair, and more than one person had tears in their eyes.

"Guess they finally figured it out, huh?" Ron chuckled beside Ginny. 

"It's about time," Ginny nodded, rolling her eyes. Hearing a shout from the far side of the courtyard, she watched a couple of aurors subdue a struggling Death Eater. When they removed the man's mask, she gasped. It was Augustus Rookwood, the man who had killed Fred. 

"Bloody hell...where's mum?" Ron murmured, sighing sadly. 

Putting their arms around each other, they wandered inside where they found George and their mother kneeling on either side of Fred's body. George was sobbing and Ginny felt like she was going to throw up as she and Ron knelt beside their mother, putting their arms around her.

The next few hours passed in a blur as people filed past the family, offering their condolences. They were eventually approached by a solemn group from St Mungo's, who lead them through the floo in the Headmaster's office, then to a dark, crowded room beneath the hospital. Fred's body was carefully moved, along with several others, to the hospital's grim little morgue. Ginny choked back tears as her brother was placed on a large sliding metal tray and hidden away behind a small wooden door.

After saying their goodbyes, the family stumbled back upstairs to the public floos in the lobby. Before they could leave, a couple of men in blood splattered white robes burst through the front doors pushing a floating stretcher. The unfortunate occupant was so covered with blood that Ginny couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman. "Get out of the way! Out of the way!" One man shouted as he pushed the stretcher through the doors leading to the emergency department. 

The other man stopped at the front desk to hand some papers to the nurse. Looking bored, she skimmed them over, then went pale as she yelped, "Harry Potter?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters are going to alternate between semi-flashbacks of each victim's attack (sort of from their POV, but not first person) and Ginny and Ron hearing about what's going on before it's decided that something really ought to be done about all of this. Sorry if it's confusing! This chapter is the first of two about what happened to poor Harry. (I've rearranged things a bit to make more sense). Also, I don't have a beta, so please excuse any mistakes!
> 
> I'm actually working on a novel, so it may take me a while to post all of this.

{Harry}

Luna had just shouted something about a 'blibbering humdinger,' whatever that was. Everyone else looked out the window, but not Harry. He quickly rose to his feet, wordlessly grabbed Hermione's hand again and led her out the shattered frame of what used to be the doorway between the Great Hall and the castle's foyer. She followed him unquestioningly as he slowly made his way through piles of rubble that forced him to make several unplanned turns and detours. His route was so convoluted that it took several minutes longer than usual to reach his destination. 

Finally, they arrived in the seventh floor hallway; right around the corner from the Gryffindor dormitories. The Fat Lady wasn't in her frame, which hung drunkenly from broken hinges, leaving the tower completely unguarded. Harry ducked through the hole in the wall and pulled Hermione into the Common Room. In his tired state, he was unconcerned with this lack of security or the fact that there could still be Death Eaters lurking in the castle.

Stopping him with a gentle tug on his hand, Hermione pulled out her wand and cast a quick 'reparo' on the portrait's hinges, then pulled the empty canvas closed behind her, effectively blocking anyone else from entering until the Fat Lady returned. Next, she motioned for Harry to be quiet and quickly cast 'Hominum revellum'. When the spell revealed no one else inside the dormitory she breathed a sigh of relief. "It's clear."

"I should have thought of that," Harry murmured ruefully. Hermione peeked up at his face, looking a bit nervous now that they were alone. Harry gazed back at her, drinking in the beautiful face that he had almost left behind forever. He'd been so stupid. 

He wasn't sure what she saw in his eyes, but she frowned briefly and reached up to press the back of her hand to his forehead. "Harry? Are you okay?" Waving her wand over him, she cast a few quick cleansing and healing spells on his numerous cuts and bruises, then repeated the process on herself before tucking her wand in the holster on her left forearm. Harry must have seemed a bit flushed, because she reached up and felt his forehead again, then moved her hand down to cup his cheek. "Are you alright, Harry?" She asked again, worriedly. 

Harry pressed his cheek against her palm, nuzzling it gently and closing his eyes. "I'm perfect. You're here," he mumbled, tiredly. She gasped softly at his words. Prying his eyes open with great effort, he stepped even closer to her, putting his hands on her hips. Gazing intently into her eyes, he took a steadying breath and murmured, "I'm too tired to make some romantic speech, so I'm just gonna say it. I love you, Hermione. I should have told you ages ago. Gods, right before I died, I realized you would never know how I feel about you, and that bothered me more than anything else about dying," he frowned sadly, remembering her sorrowful expression when he'd left her to turn himself over to Voldemort in the Forest. "I promised myself that if I somehow got another chance, I would tell you."

"What do you mean before you died?!" Hermione yelped, "I thought you were faking!" Apparently she was so horrified by the second part of his statement that she'd missed the point of the whole thing.

"When they brought me to the castle, I was faking, but Voldemort really did kill me in the Forest," Harry shuddered involuntarily. "I was dead for several minutes, I think. It was hard to tell how long."

"Oh my god, Harry!" Hermione burst into tears and hugged him tightly, burying her face against his chest.

"Hey, it's alright, Mi," Harry enveloped her tightly in his arms and murmured softly into her ear, "It's alright. I'm okay. I'm here. Dumbledore helped me come back somehow. Malfoy's mum lied about me being dead when Snakeface made her check on me...I'm not really sure why," He paused and pulled back slightly to look at her tearstained face. "I promise...I'm fine. Please don't cry 'Mione. I'm right here," he begged as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms soothingly.

Hermione nodded slightly but continued to cry. "S-sorry!" She gasped, trembling uncontrollably. "I can't s-stop."

Harry realized she might be in shock from everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. Despite his own exhaustion, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to one of the huge armchairs in front of the large fireplace. Sitting down, he settled her on his lap and gently rubbed her back until her tears finally subsided. "Are you okay?" He whispered, his breath tickling the side of her neck, making her shiver.

"I'm sorry," Hermione sniffled embarrassedly, wiping her cheeks. "I didn't mean to cry like that. I just...it was so horrible...thinking you were dead. I wanted to die too. I was so relieved when I thought he was going to kill me too." Her words were like a punch to the stomach and Harry's breath left him in a rush. Seemingly oblivious to her effect on him, Hermione continued, "I didn't want to live without you."

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Harry whispered, shaking his head sadly. "I know I scared you. I wanted to tell you I was okay so badly, but I couldn't risk making a move until the right moment. I'm so sorry I made you feel that way," he hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes, "I love you," he smiled at her nervously and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close to him and kissing her on the forehead. "I love you so much."

Hermione smiled at him happily, her eyes shining. "Just so we're absolutely clear, you do mean...romantic love? Not just 'love me like a sister?'" She bit her lip, quite obviously trying not to laugh as she looked up at him through her eyelashes.

Harry snorted scornfully, "Are you kidding? Who kisses their sister like we did earlier?!" He asked, smirking. Hermione giggled and he narrowed his eyes in mock anger, "You're a brat. Just for the record, I definitely don't love you like a sister, 'Mione. Or as a friend," His voice rasped huskily, as he cupped her cheek in his hand. "You're so smart and funny. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. And I never could have stopped Voldemort without your help. You're the only one who stood by me all these years, without fail," she smiled embarrassedly at him and he kissed her on the forehead again. "I realized I was in love with you when you helped me save Sirius back in third year. You were so amazing; you took my breath away. I've tried for four years now to hide how I feel, partly for Ron's sake; but I refuse to hide it anymore. I want you, Hermione. I need you," he finished with a growl. Hermione gasped as he rocked his hips underneath her, pressing his growing erection against her bottom. "I need to hear you say you feel the same way," he begged shamelessly, pulling back slightly to look her in the eye.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed smiling tearfully. "I love you too. So much. Ironically, I think maybe I realized it fourth year when you started fawning over Cho during the Triwizard tournament, and Rita Skeeter was saying all those horrible things about us."

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't really like Cho that much, I was just too afraid of messing up our friendship to tell you how I felt. And then I was jealous of Viktor, but he was rather intimidating, so I still didn't say anything..." Harry admitted, grinning sheepishly. "I realized during fifth year that Ron was in love with you, and after that I just tried to stay out of the way..."

"Well, I only went to that Ball with Viktor because you didn't ask me. The next year I realized Ginny was in love with you, so I tried to stay out of her way!" Hermione exclaimed, laughing ruefully. "That's when I started trying to convince myself I loved Ron..." she shrugged sheepishly. "It didn't work."

Harry blinked, then threw his head back and laughed a bit giddily. "Damn Weasleys..." He muttered lightly before ducking his head and pressing his lips to hers.

Hermione immediately parted her lips, flicking her tongue lightly over his bottom lip. He let out a loud groan before opening his mouth and proceeding to gently suck on her tongue. Needing to get closer, he pulled gently on her upper arms. Hermione scrambled to straddle his legs, accidentally kicking him in the shin in the process. Harry grunted painfully and nearly bit her tongue. "Sorry!" Hermione gasped, still struggling to get turned around so she could face him properly.

"S' okay," Harry chuckled, recapturing her lips as he lifted her by the waist, guided her right leg over his lap and set her back down astride him. They immediately pressed their torsos closer together. Hermione moaned happily as she ground her pelvis against his now throbbing erection and Harry whimpered. She rocked against him occasionally as they took turns thoroughly exploring each other's mouths. Harry couldn't seem to get enough of her...her taste, her scent, and the feeling of her soft, full breasts pressed against his chest. Soon, however, a lack of oxygen became an undeniable problem and they were forced to separate in order to keep from passing out.

Hermione rested her cheek on Harry's shoulder, drawing in large, gasping breaths as he felt her heart pounding against his chest. "Wow!" she panted breathlessly. "I was a little afraid that kissing you would be awkward...but...wow!"

"Why would it be awkward?" Harry chuckled huskily before licking the side of her neck.

"Ask Ron," she muttered, rolling her eyes. Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly, wondering if he should be jealous. "I'll tell you later. Seriously though, no one's ever made me feel like this, Harry," Taking her cue from him, she began licking, nibbling and suckling her way up his neck. "I-I want you," she whispered close to his ear, blushing as soon as the words left her mouth.

Harry moaned as an intense jolt of arousal shot through him. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he kissed her neck before whispering, "If I wasn't so tired, I'd lay you over that desk and make you forget you ever heard the name Weasley." He gestured vaguely at the nearest flat surface and she shivered.

"Oh, you would, would you?" she asked teasingly, lifting her head to look at him, her right eyebrow raised playfully. 

"That didn't come out sounding nearly as romantic as it did in my head..." Harry frowned for a moment, then grinned sheepishly at her. "Can you just forget I said that?"

"Well," Hermione pretended to think it over, then glanced over at the desk and shivered again. "Um...how tired are you?" She asked softly.

"Seriously?" Harry asked incredulously, leaning down to look her in the eyes. To his surprise (and delight) she seemed to be serious. "Hermione Granger!" He tsk'd playfully. 

"Don't look at me like that," Hermione said, suddenly defensive. "I wouldn't do...that...with anyone but you. I'm not some slag!" She tried to pull away from him, but he hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead.

"For Merlin's sake, Hermione I know you're not a slag!" he exclaimed, trying not to laugh at the mere idea of it. "That's part of what I love about you. That's why I thought you would want to wait."

"I know 'good girls' are supposed to wait," Hermione began quietly. After pausing for a moment, she licked her lips, took a deep breath and said, "Look, Harry, I've loved you for ages and I think we already know each other about as well as two people can know each other, right?" She paused and he nodded agreeably before she continued, "I almost lost you today, Harry." Her voice cracked and her eyes filled with tears again. Harry reached up and gently wiped them away as she blurted, "I just don't see any good reason to wait some arbitrary amount of time to make love to you. Unless you're really too tired?" She smiled up at him gently. "You must be exhausted..."

Harry's skipped a few beats and he smiled at her nervously. "I'm feeling a bit less tired after having this conversation with you, but I hurt all over from all the fighting," he admitted reluctantly. "I'm really not feeling up to the whole desk thing right now, I'm afraid." If he were completely honest he wasn't sure he could even make it over to the damn thing.

Hermione nodded understandingly, "Oh, of course not," she glanced at the desk again, "That would probably be rather uncomfortable anyway," she giggled embarrassedly.

"Right," Harry laughed awkwardly, then nervously ran his hand through his hair despite realizing he was mussing it even more than it already was. "How do you feel about beds?" He asked hesitantly. "I think I could handle trying it in a bed." Assuming he could get to one. He bit back a yawn while he waited for her reply.

"I am all for finding a bed," Hermione chuckled nervously. "A nice, soft, cushy bed..."

"Alright then..." Harry smiled as brightly as he could and scooped her back up in his arms. After a few attempts, he somehow found the energy to stand up while still holding her. "Your place or mine?" He murmured huskily in her ear, loving the shiver he felt go through her in response.

"Um, we don't even have our own beds here this year, Harry," Hermione pointed out, giggling.

"If you think I'm going to make love to you in that bloody tent of yours after the day I've had, you've got another thing coming, woman," Harry growled playfully. "Girls room or boys?"

"Girls," Hermione chuckled, pointing at the correct staircase when he started to head for the boys' dorm out of habit. "I don't even want to think about the state of the sheets in the boys' dorm," she commented with a shudder.

"Point well taken," Harry laughed as he started up the stairs. To his embarrassment he started panting when they were less than halfway up the second flight. He couldn't say he was surprised though. Luckily, Hermione took pity on him.

"This is ridiculous. You're exhausted, Harry, and I can walk," she said, squirming to be set down.

He let her down with a sigh, "This might end up more, 'Nap now, shag later,' I'm afraid," he mumbled regretfully, trying and failing to smother another yawn. "I'm sorry. I really want to..."

"I know," Hermione wrapped her arm around his waist as they trudged up the remaining stairs to the 7th year dorm. "It's okay. I mean, you only saved the world. I think you earned a little nap," she smiled teasingly and patted him lightly on the back.

"Ya think?" he grinned tiredly as he opened the door and ushered her inside.

To their surprise, Hermione's usual bed was there, looking freshly made up. Her beaded bag, which he thought she had long since lost track of in the battle, was sitting on the trunk at its foot. "Oh my...the elves...I can't believe they took the time to do this..." Hermione murmured, her eyes filling with tears again as she walked over and ran her fingertips over the familiar red velvet comforter.

"Remind me to thank them by not letting you offer them clothes," Harry joked. After stuffing his newly repaired holly wand in her bag, he plopped down on the bed. He instantly sank into the soft bedding and let out a deep, contented moan. "Oh gods, I forgot how good Hogwarts' beds feel..." he sighed happily, his eyes drifting shut for a moment before he could force them open again.

"Harry, I think a sleeping bag on the floor would feel pretty good to you right now," Hermione chuckled as she closed and locked the door. Moving closer, she pulled her own wand from its holster and quickly undid the straps, sighing softly as she removed the stiff leather and placed it, and her wand, on the nightstand. 

"Blasphemy," Harry snorted, holding his hand out to her, "You've just forgotten how great they really are," he insisted, wiggling his fingers at her. When she rolled her eyes and took his hand, he unceremoniously tugged her down beside him.

Hermione yelped in surprise, then rolled over and stretched out beside him. "Ohhh, this is good," She sighed happily, snuggling into the pillows. "Oh gods, I take it back. This is definitely better than a sleeping bag," she moaned deeply, "I hadn't noticed how sore and tired I was until now."

"Mmm," Harry hummed tiredly, "Well, this is me...impressing you with my mad love-making skills..." he mumbled, not moving a muscle. At some point his eyes had closed and he found he lacked the ability or desire to open them. He decided it was probably for the best that they didn't try to do anything but sleep right now. From what he'd heard, first times were awkward enough without adding complete and utter exhaustion to the equation. 

"S' very impressive, Harry," Hermione yawned sleepily. Rolling on her side, she snuggled up against him, rested her head on his shoulder and threw her arm over his chest. "Nap now, shag later..." she murmured drowsily. Clearly, there was no way either of them were going to find the energy to do anything even remotely physical right now.

"'Kay," Harry mumbled, patting her arm tiredly. Seconds later he heard a soft snore. Turning to the beautiful witch in his arms, he kissed her softly on the cheek before plopping back down and closing his eyes again. He quickly joined his girlfriend in a deep, well deserved slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. This story has been finished for ages, I've just gotten sort of fed up lately with having no internet, so I can't post anything I write on my pc. I've been having to do everything on my phone, which frankly just sucks. Luckily, I'm moving really soon, and will have working internet so I can use my pc again! Yay!
> 
> This chapter is VERY dark, and quite violent. Like I said, I wrote this ages ago, and looking back, I don't know what got into my muse with this one. I can only promise it *does* all get better later. Just writing this story made ME cry a few times, so...you've been warned.
> 
> I think I'm also going to post a nice, fluffy Dramione story that I also wrote a while ago, just to kinda even out the dark awfulness of this one...

Harry blinked groggily, trying to figure out where he was and why he was awake. Every muscle in his body hurt and he was so exhausted he couldn't think straight. Lifting his head slightly, he realized after a minute that he was probably in a Gryffindor dorm room. However, judging by the furnishings and a few decidedly feminine items, such as makeup and jewellery, scattered on the dresser immediately across from where he lay, he wasn't in the boys' dorm. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked around confusedly.

There was a bra hanging from the doorknob. Unless Seamus, Dean or Neville had decided to embrace their feminine side, he most definitely wasn't in the boys' dorm.

A soft snore from behind him drew his attention to the fact that he wasn't alone. Turning rather stiffly, every muscle protesting, he smiled at the sight of Hermione snuggled up beside him. She was sound asleep, a soft smile lighting up her delicate features. Upon seeing her looking so happy, the memory of the night before came flooding back.

Voldemort was dead. Really, truly dead. And, almost more amazingly...Hermione loved him. Harry blushed, remembering their kiss and the conversation that had followed earlier that morning. If they hadn't both been so exhausted she'd been willing, even eager, to make love to him. 

He was still exhausted, which brought up the question of why he was currently awake. A quick glance at his watch revealed that only an hour had passed since they'd fallen asleep. He also noticed that he'd been too tired to remove his glasses. Yawning, he reached up to do so when a soft creaking sound made him freeze. 

There hadn't been anyone else in the tower when Hermione had closed them in earlier, but now it sounded like someone was in the hallway. The Fat Lady must have returned to her frame and started allowing other students back into the dormitory. Sighing, Harry decided to go see whoever was out there and find out what they wanted. According to Luna, Lavender was in St Mungo's and Parvati had gone to the wizarding hospital to provide moral support for both her best friend and her twin sister, Padma. The Ravenclaw had been badly burned by a curse during the battle. Someone must have come to collect one of the Gryffindor girls' belongings, but Harry didn't want them to disturb Hermione. His new girlfriend needed her rest after everything she'd been through recently. 

Sliding off the bed, Harry tiptoed to the door and carefully unlocked it, trying to be as quiet as possible. As he turned the knob, Hermione rolled over, mumbling in her sleep as she hugged the pillow Harry had been using. Smiling affectionately at her, Harry eased the door open and slipped into the hallway, closing the door behind him. 

The hallway was almost completely dark. The only light came from a small gap in the curtains covering a small window to Harry's right. Glancing toward the window, he saw a cockroach scurrying out of the light and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Shaking his head he turned toward the stairs to look for whoever he had heard in the hallway, muttering, "Since when does Hogwarts have a roach problem?"

"Since never, asshole," a deep voice growled behind him. Before he could turn around, the voice hissed, "Stupify!" and everything went black.

***

"Death Eater scum!" An angry voice broke through the fog in Harry's head, jarring him awake just in time for him to be aware of someone spitting in his face. 

As the wet, slimy mess trailed over his cheek, he tried to reach up and wipe it away but found himself unable to move. "Wha-"

"Shut up, ye little arsehole," a second voice ordered from somewhere in front of him.

Harry pried his eyes open, squinting against the glare of several torches. "M-me?" He stammered confusedly at a large black haired man in Auror's robes standing a few feet away.

"What part of shut up did you not understand?!" The owner of the original voice snarled from just behind him. "You're not to speak...got it? We're not in the mood for your lies, dirtbag. We know you tried to kill Harry Potter!"

Harry blinked, "What are you on about? I am Harry Potter!" he blurted angrily. "I don't know who you think I am, but...."

"Nice try, Malfoy," the man in front of him snarled. "Now shut up! They'll be here for ya soon," he nodded at the man behind Harry, who suddenly twisted his arms behind his back, sending searing pain through both shoulders, briefly taking his breath away.

"But- Aaaaaaaaah!!" Harry tried again to explain but his arms were wrenched even further and he fell to his knees, gasping. "I'm Harry Potter!" he choked out just before the man twisted hard. Harry screamed as he felt his left shoulder pop out of its socket. Black spots swam in his vision and he struggled not to cry. "Please..."

"Another word and I'll rip your arms off completely and shove 'em up your arse, you little fuck," his tormentor yanked him back to his feet by his left arm and Harry barely choked back a scream. His heart was beating out of control and he'd broken out in a cold sweat. He swayed weakly, his head hanging low as he prayed silently for someone with half a brain to come save him from these two morons. He knew as soon as someone like Kingsley or Arthur found him, the two oafs would lose their jobs in a heartbeat. 

As he waited impatiently to be rescued, he slowly noticed that the unused classroom they were in seemed to be getting colder by the moment. Then he suddenly realized that his heart was racing harder than ever. Just as a horrible suspicion came over him, the sound of a door slowly creaking open drew his attention to the right. Turning his head toward the sound, he watched in horror as his worst nightmare glided into the room. "Fuck," the man in front of Harry cursed softly, moving to his partner's side, behind Harry.

Seeming larger and even more horrifying than usual in the small classroom, two dementors made a beeline straight toward him. "Eh! Back off now! You can't have him yet!" The first auror ordered shakily. The dementors seemed oblivious to him, bearing down on their target like dogs on a juicy steak.

"P-patronus!" Harry muttered. "Cast a patronus you idiots!"

The man holding him gave his right arm a vicious yank, dislocating his other shoulder, but through the wave of pain that swept over him, Harry noticed that the other auror was trying to follow his advice. "Fuck, I can't, Paul!" He turned to his partner, his eyes huge in his overly pale face.

"Dammit, you hold him," Harry was shoved roughly toward the trembling man, who barely caught him by the elbow, sending another jolt of pain through his left shoulder. Apparently abusing helpless prisoners made the second auror, who was tall, blond and balding, sufficiently happy because he managed to summon his rat patronus with seemingly no trouble, halting the dementors in their tracks just as the nearest one reached for Harry's head. "Back off you dogs. No smoochies for you 'til you get him back to Azkaban."

Harry gasped, "You can't send me with them. Please! I'm not Malfoy! I'm Harry! Please!" 

"I told you to shut up!" the man growled irritably and punched Harry in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "C'mon Murray, lets get this garbage outta here." Each man grabbed one of Harry's arms and they began dragging him toward the door, ignoring his wheezing and pained cries at the pressure this put on his injured shoulders.

"What's going on here?" A familiar voice sent a shock of hope through Harry and he looked up into the familiar eyes of his Head of House.

"Mc...Gon..." he struggled to draw enough breath to speak.

"Nothin' Professor," the black haired auror replied politely. "He's just putting up a bit of a fight."

"I see," McGonagall murmured, looking Harry over, pursuing her lips. "He always was a troublemaker. Has he threatened to call Daddy yet?" All three adults laughed.

"Prof..." Harry tried again, struggling to remain conscious despite his injuries and the effect of the dementors hovering just behind him. "I'm H-Harry..."

"Good lord, the boy's gone round the bend!" McGonagall twittered uncomfortably. "Draco Malfoy, it was Harry himself that turned you in! I don't know how you thought you, of all people, could manage to overpower one of the finest wizards to ever attend this school," she sneered slightly, then turned her attention back to the black haired auror, "Please try to make sure none of the other students see him. We don't need anymore bloodshed here today." With that, she turned and limped away.

Harry watched her go in horror. As the aurors continued to drag him toward the castle's front entrance, he struggled to stay on his feet, knowing the pain in his shoulders would intensify unbearably if the sadistic duo had to literally drag him. 

The small procession made its way out to the courtyard, where the aurors had a couple of brooms waiting. Harry whimpered as the more abusive blond roughly slung him face down across the handle of his broom. "Stay still!" He elbowed Harry harshly in the ribs when he wriggled a bit in a futile attempt to get more comfortable. "Don't make me tie you up."

Harry rather wished he would make good on that threat as they took to the air. As soon as his feet lost contact with the ground the broom's shaft began to dig into his abdomen. It was also very disconcerting to dangle face downward with no choice but to watch the ground grow further and further away. This was especially disturbing knowing that he'd be unable to hold on if he happened to slip. The pain in his shoulders had gradually settled to a dull ache but he was under no delusions that he'd be able to use his arms any time soon. Not without receiving serious medical attention first. 

As he dismally watched the countryside below, Harry prayed that whoever had done this to him had not harmed Hermione. The longer he thought about his girlfriend sleeping alone and defenseless while his unseen attacker lurked about the tower, the more anxious he became. Then, he realized that, from what McGonagall had said, the attacker must be disguised as Harry himself and his anxiety escalated to full on panic. "M-my g-girlfriend is in danger..." he ground out, clenching his teeth against the pain in his abdomen where the broom was digging into his diaphragm. 

"Shut up!" the surly auror barked, slapping him hard. Harry's head flew to the side and he yelped as he almost fell off the broom. "Bloody hell! Look what you almost made me do! Nearly over London, too!"

Harry looked down and gulped. They were currently flying over a large church with a very sharp steeple. "P-please...send...a message...to...McGonagall. Need...to...check on...Hermione. Gryffindor...tower..." Harry panted.

"Shut the fuck up!" the auror bellowed. Letting out an angry growl, he brought his elbow down in the middle of Harry's back. 

Pain shot through Harry's entire body as he felt and heard a rib crunch upon impact. All of the air was forced from his lungs, and he cried out as he felt himself slipping from the broom. The auror seemed oblivious as Harry continued to slide further and further forward until he was hanging over the handle at his hips instead of his stomach. "H...h..." he struggled to call out.

Just then, the dementors, who had been trailing behind them, suddenly came up on either side. "What're you doing?" the blond auror asked nervously. "Get back!" He grabbed onto the back of Harry's shirt, causing him to sigh with relief, but before he could hoist him further back on the broom, the two dementors attacked. "Help! Murray!" the blond screamed, getting the other auror's attention just before one of the dementors reached out and yanked him from the broom.

Harry watched in terror as the dementor covered the screaming man's face with its gaping mouth. He felt the broom he was on beginning to descend and tried to think about how he would control it if he was mounted properly. He knew brooms worked mostly by willpower and hoped his awkward position wouldn't matter too much. A dark flash of motion drew his horrified gaze to the suddenly limp form of his tormentor as the dementor casually dropped the now soulless husk. "No!" Harry lost whatever weak control he might have had over his broom as the hooded figure turned on him. A scream on his right suddenly cut off with a gurgle and he knew the other auror had met the same fate. Looking down, he noticed he was now flying only about fifty feet over the top of a very tall building. If he could land on the roof, he might make it...

A bony hand brushed against his ankle and he realized both dementors were now reaching for him...probably fighting over which of them would get his soul for dessert. Taking a deep breath, Harry sent a silent prayer to Merlin or whoever else might be listening to please take care of Hermione; then, he weakly grabbed the broom handle on either side of him and pushed himself off, screaming in agony at the pain ripping through his shoulders. He screamed even louder when he realized he had missed the rooftop and was plummeting toward the sidewalk hundreds of feet below. He tumbled helplessly, head over feet, as the ground rushed to meet him. About twenty feet from the ground he smashed into something sticking out of the side of the building. Excruciating pain exploded in his back and skull as the world went black.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. This one is pretty dark. I hate my muse sometimes! :-/

Ginny sat beside Ron in horrified silence as Healer Jyoti Singh explained to their father, and the acting Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the extent of Harry's injuries. Her mother and George were too overwrought with grief over Fred's death to handle any more bad news, so they had gone home to the Burrow with her three oldest brothers, though Charlie had promised to come back to the hospital after he got some rest. Ginny and Ron had refused to leave, even though Harry wasn't being allowed visitors.

A deep frown marred the healer's pretty face as she explained that the damage to Harry's brain was just too extensive; she didn't think he was likely to survive the night.

"I'd like to examine his last memories to see if I can figure out what made him attack those aurors and kill himself," she murmured quietly.

"Is that really necessary?" Ron snapped, his eyes damp with tears. "He was kidnapped from his bed, made to look like Draco Bloody Malfoy and then forced into close contact with his worst fucking fear! What do you think made him go round the bend?" He muttered sarcastically. "He deserves some respect and privacy!"

"Ron..." Ginny gently put her hand on her brother's arm and he settled down instantly. Normally, he would have argued with her, but the events of the last several hours seemed to have drained him of most of his usual spark. Ginny was deeply worried about him. She also didn't like the things that were being implied about Harry. "I know it sounds crazy, but I don't think Harry would do this." She shook her head slightly. "He was so happy. He finally killed Voldemort just hours before...whatever happened. He knows how to handle dementors. He knows the tricks they play on your mind. He also knows that polyjuice wears off after an hour. All he had to do was wait for it to wear off, then demand a huge apology from the Ministry for not listening to him." Healer Singh looked uncertain, and Ginny snapped, yelling, "He and Hermione just got together...he wouldn't throw it all away just because someone tricked him into a brief trip to Azkaban! There has to be more to it!"

Kingsley and Arthur exchanged a look. Finally, Kingsley said, "I believe Miss Weasley is correct. We owe it to Harry to find out exactly what happened to him."

"Thank you, Kingsley. Er...Minister Shacklebolt." Healer Singh smiled rather flirtatiously at the stocky dark skinned wizard. "If you wish, I can bring you into Harry's memory with me so you can see for yourself whatever I manage to uncover."

"Can't you just extract the memories?" Arthur asked, his face showing the same confusion his daughter now felt.

"It would be too dangerous with the injuries Harry has sustained. Removing the memories could kill him," Healer Singh explained quietly.

"But shoving yourself in his head won't?" Ron asked, looking very dubious.

"It's hard to explain, but it is safer because it will just be our conscious minds observing what is there, rather than trying to extract the memories. There is a slight physical aspect to our memories; as you may know, they have a vapor-like consistency. Pulling them from such severely damaged tissue...." She grimaced, then shrugged slightly. "Harry doesn't have much of a chance, but I don't want to risk destroying even the tiny one he's got."

"Can I come?" Ginny requested after everyone had let this sink in for a moment.

"What?" Arthur and Ron asked incredulously. "Why?" Her father added.

"He should have someone he's close to act as a witness...to represent him. No offense, but he was hurt while he was in the custody of the Ministry, and they haven't even begun to have a chance to weed out all of the corruption that went on there under Voldemort. I know we can trust you Kingsley, but don't you think there should be someone who doesn't work for the Ministry there who can bear witness to whatever happened?"

"But your father works for the Ministry. And you're not impartial...you're his ex girlfriend," Ron pointed out. "I'm his best friend. I should do it,"

"But you're known to be hot-headed. Do you really think you could watch what happened to him without flying off the handle? Hermione would normally be the best choice, but no one even knows where she is. We might not have that long." Aurors were searching the castle, but the Fat Lady was missing from Gryffindor Tower and no one could find her to let them inside. Whoever had turned Harry over to the aurors had given him polyjuice, changing him into Draco Malfoy, and also changed themself into Harry. He'd claimed to have caught "Draco" trying to break into the tower while he and Hermione slept. No one knew where the person had gone after turning Harry in, but it had been over an hour since he turned Harry in, and everyone was getting more and more anxious.

"I suppose we don't want to let just anyone see his memories. Even if he's not going to...if he's gonna d-die...he wouldn't want just anyone seeing that..." Ron stammered uncertainly. The fact that he still didn't argue more with Ginny frightened her immensely.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Ginny?" Arthur asked gently. "You don't know what you might see..."

"I just saw my brother die, and one of my best friends get mauled by a werewolf, Dad. I think I can handle seeing a few dementors, and Harry falling off a broom," Ginny pointed out. "I'm almost an adult. My birthday is in just a few months."

"I think she's made a very valid point. A few of them, actually." Healer Singh shrugged slightly, smiling softly at Ginny. "I think it might be a good idea for her to view his memories."

"Alright." Kingsley hesitantly nodded his approval. "If Arthur gives his permission." Ginny huffed impatiently and he smiled apologetically. "We don't have time to wait two months for your birthday, and if we see anything you might have to testify about later it's best to do this as by the books as possible."

"She may do it." Arthur nodded.

"Alright, now that that's decided, I'd really like to do this as soon as possible," Healer Singh said, smiling uncomfortably. "I'm afraid that Harry doesn't have much time."

Ginny bit her lip and nodded. After hugging her father and brother she nervously followed the healer and Minister out of the healer's office and a few doors down the hall to Harry's room. "Have you seen him yet?" Healer Singh asked softly. Ginny nodded ruefully but Kingsley shook his head. "Prepare yourself...he's...it's bad," the healer warned her gently.

Ginny nodded and took a deep breath as they entered the room. Harry was lying on a narrow white bed, with a bleached white sheet covering him to his mid chest. The blood that had covered him earlier had been washed away and his normally tanned skin was almost as white as the sheet, except for huge black bruises on his forehead, shoulders and chest. He seemed completely, utterly motionless. "Is...is he breathing?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"Barely," Healer Singh sighed sadly. Touching Harry's right shoulder, just below a large bruise there, she frowned thoughtfully.

"What is it?" Kingsley asked.

"The injuries to his shoulders don't make sense to me. They're both dislocated." She shook her head slowly. "That doesn't really fit with him falling off a broom."

Ginny was watching Kingsley closely during this explanation. His eyes widened slightly, then narrowed suspiciously before a dark frown settled on his features. "What is it?" Ginny asked him a bit more sharply than she'd intended.

"I hope it's nothing, but I've heard rumors that Paul Robertson...one of the aurors that was killed...well, let's just say he didn't have the best reputation in the world."

"Was he a Death Eater?" Ginny asked, scowling.

"No, no." Kingsley shook his head quickly. "He hated them, in fact. They killed his younger sister and her husband. Paul has...had a tendency to get a little rough with them sometimes. But even if he thought he had Malfoy...I can't believe he would do something like this. The kid's a pain in the arse, but it's not like he ever really hurt anyone. Not compared to his father."

"But if they were told Draco had tried to attack Harry..." Ginny frowned, becoming more anxious about what she might be about to see.

"Let's quit standing around speculating and find out what really happened," Healer Singh suggested. "Please sit down on either side of the bed. I'm going to need to have you place your fingertips on my temples...like this..." she took Kingsley's right hand and placed it on her left temple, then moved Ginny's left hand to her right temple. Leaning between them, she reached for Harry with both her hands. "Whatever you see, try not to let go. You'll break my connection and I'll have to start over. Close your eyes..." she murmured as she leaned further and placed her hands lightly on either side of Harry's forehead.

Ginny quickly closed her eyes. At first nothing happened, but then an image slowly began to form in her mind. A small spot of light formed and then she suddenly found herself standing in the courtyard at Hogwarts. Harry was just in front of her, facing Voldemort, and Ginny jumped fearfully. "It's just a memory," Healer Singh crooned comfortingly. "He can't hurt us."

Ginny wondered if she was trying to convince Ginny, Kingsley (who seemed to have gone very stiff) or herself. She forced herself to breathe as she watched Harry once again defeat the Dark Lord. She cringed for both her friends' sake as all three awkwardly observed the conversation and brief make out session that took place between Harry and Hermione before the pair finally staggered upstairs to Hermione's old dorm and collapsed in exhaustion. Kingsley snickered when Harry made a drowsy comment about showing off his impressive love making skills, and Healer Singh clucked her tongue at him.

Then the vision faded out and right back in while Harry slept and then woke to look sleepily around the room. He started to remove his glasses and they all spun to look at the bedroom door when a soft creak sounded on the other side. "He's got such good instincts," Kingsley sighed. "He'd have made a wonderful auror..." Then he muttered, "Or not. Dammit Harry...bring your wand!"

All three cringed when Harry stepped into the hallway unarmed. Ginny noticed the roach and wrinkled her nose just as Harry muttered about Hogwarts non-existent roach problem, "Step on the bug, Harry!" She urged just before the insect began to morph into a blurry dark figure.

"Harry never saw him change, so we can't see his face, but his mind made the connection that the roach must've been his attacker," Healer Singh explained as the dark, faceless figure stunned Harry and the image went dark again for a moment.

Harry still looked like himself when the image faded back in, which Ginny found confusing. Kingsley had told them the aurors and McGonagall had all quite clearly seen him as Draco. "He sees himself as...himself," Healer Singh murmured quietly. "Even after finding out that he looked like someone else, he still had a strong enough sense of self for his memory to ignore the polyjuice potion..."

"Is that a big deal?" Ginny asked quietly.

"It just means he has a very strong mind...oh gods!" Healer Singh cried out as the tall, angry looking blond holding Harry's arms jerked his hands up toward his shoulders, causing an audible pop. Harry cried out in pain, though he made an obvious effort to contain it.

"The bastard!" Kingsley exclaimed. "If he wasn't dead, I'd have his badge for that! That was out of line even if he'd done it to a real Death Eater. Oh gods!" Ginny felt the bed shift when the auror dislocated Harry's other shoulder before casting his patronus.

"Easy...don't break the connection," Healer Singh murmured soothingly. "Oh my god that bastard!" She finally lost her cool when the blond punched Harry in the stomach.

"I'll kill him..." Ginny growled, feeling tears trickling down her cheeks.

"He's already dead," Kingsley reminded her grouchily. Ginny grunted irritably.

"I can't believe she didn't listen..." Healer Singh gasped after McGonagall approached and then casually blew off Harry's pleas for help.

"Well...it is sort of something Draco might have tried. When he was younger anyway." Ginny bit her lip, "Not anymore though."

"I wonder how involved the Malfoys were in planning this," Kingsley mused aloud.

"I don't think they were. Remember...Harry told Hermione that Narcissa covered for him?" Healer Singh reminded him. "Merlin's beard, that's what...four times that man has hit him now?!" She exclaimed angrily as Harry was elbowed in the ribs.

"I don't know how to keep count, what with all the arm twisting and pulling." Ginny shrugged sadly. They all watched in anxious silence, hovering in midair just behind Harry and the Aurors as they flew toward London. "Oh my god...he knocked him off..." Ginny gasped as Robertson slapped Harry halfway off the broom.

"Not yet..." Kingsley huffed angrily as the blond pulled Harry back into place.

"Why didn't they just tie him on?" Healer Singh asked sadly.

"They normally do. Robertson clearly had it in for Harry...er...Malfoy," Kingsley grumbled. "Oh shit...he's falling. He's falling!"

Ginny held her breath in horror as Harry seemed seconds away from falling. She heard Kingsley and Healer Singh sigh with relief when Robertson finally caught him, then... "Son of a bitch! Did he just break his back?!" Kingsley bellowed when the auror viciously elbowed Harry in the back.

"I don't think so...I think that was his ribs. I thought they broke in the fall," Singh murmured thoughtfully. "What are they doing?!" She yelped as the dementors suddenly moved alongside Robertson's broom.

"He made Harry so miserable they couldn't resist his suffering anymore," Kingsley explained quietly. "Holy shit!"

The bed lurched and Ginny nearly lost contact with the Healer's forehead, "Stay still, Kingsley! We don't want to have to watch all this again..."

"It...kissed him. It kissed the auror! How is Harry flying that broom like that?" Ginny whispered, amazed that he'd somehow kept the broom in the air, let alone moving in a straight line. She barely noticed the death of the other auror.

"Talent. Fuck....this is where he fell..." Kingsley mumbled. All three held their breath as Harry looked desperately at the nearby building, closed his eyes, and jumped just as the dementors lunged for him.

Ginny felt like her heart was falling right alongside Harry when he narrowly missed the rooftop and let out a scream of pure terror. "He missed. He didn't try to kill himself...he tried to jump on the roof to avoid them, but he missed. Poor Harry..."

The image vanished, just as Harry approached a large awning near the ground floor. "We don't need to watch that," Healer Singh muttered.

Ginny opened her eyes and gazed sadly at Harry's pale face. "He didn't deserve that. Draco didn't deserve to be treated like that. I'm not sure even Lucius deserved that..." she murmured sadly, gently taking Harry's left hand in hers.

"That bastard killed Harry because he thought Draco tried to kill Harry," Kingsley muttered, shaking his head disgustedly. "Whoever set this up was one twisted bastard. They had to know just who to hand 'Draco' over to in order to get Harry killed."

"That other one didn't do anything to prevent it," Healer Singh pointed out.

"Murray Jones was always a bit intimidated by Robertson," Kingsley sighed, "I've no idea how he ever became an auror in the first place. He's brilliant at strategy and theory, but balls in the field,"

"And now Harry's going to die because of one auror with an epically bad temper and another with no spine?" Ginny exclaimed angrily, "How is that right? How is that fair?"

"What worries me is why the killer went out of their way to organize this," Kingsley frowned. "Why turn him over and let Robertson kill him? Why not do it himself?"

"To undermine the Ministry," Ginny murmured. "Can you imagine people's reaction when this gets out?"

Kingsley opened his mouth, but before he could speak there was a knock on the door and a nurse stuck her head into the room, "I'm sorry to disturb you, Jyoti, but there's a man here for Minister Shacklebolt.

"Minister, I need to speak with you. We've found Hermione Granger. She was inside Gryffindor Tower like we suspected..." he glanced at Ginny and trailed off as if unsure he should speak in front of her.

"Is she okay?" Ginny asked anxiously.

The auror shifted his gaze back to Kingsley, who nodded for him to continue. Swallowing thickly, he announced, "She's...she's d-dead."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This is the chapter with the attempted rape. Well...sort of a rape by deception. No actual rape occurs, but there's also another major character death, though it's not quite as violent as the last one.

Hermione wasn't sure what woke her until she looked around the dimly lit room and found Harry leaning against the door, watching her with a faint smirk on his lips. "I'd think your instincts would be a bit sharper after running from Death Eaters for almost a year," he murmured sarcastically.

Glancing at her watch, Hermione groaned, "Harry, we've only been asleep for a few hours. What are you doing up? Come back to bed..." she patted the pillow beside her and rolled onto her stomach, prepared to go back to sleep.

"If you insist." Harry chuckled darkly. The edge of the bed sank under his weight a moment later, then he pulled the covers back.

Having wiggled out of her jacket and sweatshirt sometime while she slept, the room's cool air made Hermione shiver. "Harry, quite screwing around, I'm cold!" She complained, flipping onto her back and reaching down to try to pull the blankets over herself.

"You're not that cold yet." Harry chuckled quietly. Pulling the covers even further down, he abruptly slid his hands up under her thin t-shirt, grabbed both of her breasts and squeezed hard enough to make her yelp. "These aren't cold," he observed, smirking slightly.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. "That hurt! You can't just go grabbing at them like that."

"Why not?" He asked. "I'm Harry Potter," he added a bit cockily. "I can do whatever I want."

Hermione sat up a bit, pushing her hair out of her eyes as she studied him warily. "I think you need more sleep, Harry," she mumbled, patting the pillow beside her invitingly.

"I have better things to do." Harry smirked. "More entertaining, anyway," he corrected himself, the smirk turning into a leering grin. "Take off your clothes," he ordered suddenly, his expression going completely serious.

Hermione blinked, then scowled. "I don't know what's gotten into you..."

"The same thing that's about to get into you," he murmured, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hermione stared at him a moment, then snorted with laughter. "You're terrible."

"I've never had any complaints before." He shrugged. Reaching for the button on her jeans, he pouted exaggeratedly. "Come on, Hermione..."

"Fine." Hermione blushed slightly as he watched her remove her jeans and t-shirt, keeping her bra and knickers in place for the time being.

"Everything," Harry ordered huskily. His pupils were so dilated that only the faintest bit of green remained, and Hermione's stomach fluttered nervously.

"You're overdressed now," she pointed out, tugging playfully on the collar of his t-shirt. "I think it's your turn," she added challengingly.

He gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged somewhat dismissively and pulled the shirt off over his head. Standing up, he quickly undid the fastenings on his jeans and slid them down, along with his boxers.

Hermione froze, staring at his (in her admittedly limited experience) rather large erection. "Merlin..." she mumbled dazedly, unconsciously licking her lips.

Harry raised an eyebrow, then glanced down. "Whoa!" He muttered quietly. Hermione frowned at his apparent surprise. Clearing his throat he muttered something else under his breath, then smiled tightly. "Uh...it really likes you?" The uncertainty in his voice was unmistakable.

"Um...it's...uh...not usually that...uh...big?" Hermione asked confusedly. Did they change size?

"Of course it is," Harry muttered, seeming almost annoyed for some reason. Shaking his head dismissively, he gestured at her bra. "Your turn," he said gruffly.

Nodding nervously, Hermione reached behind her back and unhooked it with slightly trembling hands. As it fell away, she glanced anxiously at Harry's face. He seemed more interested in the scar across her left collarbone than he was in her breasts, even going so far as to reach out and run his right forefinger over it. "It's ugly," Hermione mumbled self consciously.

"It's rather impressive," Harry murmured, smiling strangely. After staring at it for several more seconds, he blinked and shifted his attention back to her face. Leering at her in a rather predatory manner, he knelt on the bed and slowly crawled on top of her. Hooking his thumbs in the side of her knickers, he slowly pulled them down, awkwardly using his foot to push them off over her feet.

When he shifted to kneel between her legs, Hermione's heart skipped a beat. "Um...contraception spell," she squeaked when he positioned himself at her entrance with no apparent interest in foreplay of any kind. She was torn between years of wanting him, and the desire to slap him for how inconsiderate he was being. She chalked it up to nerves and lack of sleep, and decided to let it go.

Sighing irritably, he muttered, "Fine. Where'd I put my wand?"

Hermione started to tell him to just use hers, but a quick glance at the nightstand revealed that it was no longer there. "Um...in my bag..." she said distractedly, pointing toward the foot of the bed. While he moved to retrieve it, she leaned over the side of the bed, hunting for her own.

"I don't see it," Harry complained as she peeked under the bed.

Pulling herself upright, she was about to suggest he try summoning it when she noticed that his wand was sitting on top of several other items he'd pulled out of the bag. "Um...it's right under your nose," she said slowly, staring at him confusedly.

Harry glanced blankly at the wand in front of him. "No...I mean MY wand."

"That IS your wand," Hermione's heart began to race as he shook his head stubbornly.

"No, the Elder wand," he muttered irritability, still rooting around in her bag.

Hermione's heart sank as his strange behavior suddenly made horrible sense. "Who are you? Where's Harry?" She asked, looking around frantically for her own wand and wondering if she could reach Harry's before his imposter did.

The man stopped searching the bag and looked up at her, his eyes hard. "Don't tell me he got rid of it?" he asked in disbelief as he picked up the holly wand. So much for that.

"Who are you?!" Hermione demanded again, angrily. Realizing she was still naked, she grabbed a pillow and held it in front of her, eyeing the door in hopes of making a break for it.

Smirking, the fake Harry murmured something under his breath, and his features immediately began to shift. Within seconds Hermione found herself staring up at the terrifyingly familiar, dark-stubbled face of the Death Eater who had frequently haunted her nightmares since the spring of her fifth year at Hogwarts. The scar he'd left on her chest at the Ministry throbbed painfully as Antonin Dolohov leered down at her. "No..." She whimpered fearfully. "No. How did you get in here? W-where's Harry?"

"Aw, I already played with young Harry," he winked mockingly, "Now it's time to finish what I started with you so long ago, Mudblood," he chuckled, crawling back up the bed and pinning her legs. Hermione screamed and tried to get her knees up, tried to kick him off her, but he held her legs down easily and silenced her with a wave of Harry's wand. Grinning maniacally, he reached into the pocket of the jeans he'd been wearing and pulled out an ornate knife with a thin, curving blade. It was covered in partially dried blood, and her eyes filling with tears at the thought that it might be Harry's. "Don't cry yet, we haven't even gotten started!" Dolohov laughed scornfully. "Harry didn't cry. Even Draco didn't cry until I scalped the little fucker." He wiggled the knife mockingly in front of her.

"No..." Hermione stared at the bloody blade. "Why would you attack Malfoy?" she asked, just to keep him talking. If he had somehow gotten into the tower, someone else was bound to sooner or later.

Grinning wickedly, Dolohov reached into his discarded jeans again. This time, he pulled out a fistful of familiar platinum blond hair. When he waved it in her direction, a few drops of blood flew into her face from a flap of skin dangling from one end. Hermione very nearly vomited. "Pretty boy isn't so pretty now..." Dolohov cackled gleefully. Tossing his gruesome souvenir over his shoulder, he raised the blade again. "Your turn." Hermione stared at the knife in horror as he moved it closer to her face. Trailing it along her hairline, he whispered, "What do you think? Should I give you a haircut too? I'd be doing you a favor, getting rid of that mess."

"No!" Hermione shook her head frantically, and felt the blade nick her temple.

Dolohov tsk'd in mock disapproval. "See what you made me do? Now you're dead." Holding the knife inches from her face, he showed her the drop of fresh blood at the tip of the blade and grinned. "This blade is cursed, Poppet. Anyone cut by it, even the slightest nick, dies a long, painful death. Can you feel it in your veins? The burning? I wonder if your muddy blood will slow it down any?" He tilted his head to one side in faux thoughtfulness. "I doubt it. I think you'll be dead in a few hours. That's all it takes. Especially if the cut is close to your heart, like this..." he jerked the pillow from her arms and pressed the knife to her left breast, making a shallow cut just below the scar he'd already given her. "Oops. You've only got about half an hour now..."

Hermione fought back tears. She knew instinctively from the growing burning sensation in her head and chest that he wasn't lying. Dolohov sat back and smirked, watching delightedly while she struggled not to react until the pain became overwhelming. Soon, she broke into silent sobs, and then anguished screams. She couldn't help it...it felt like the flesh was being ripped from her head and torso and the pain grew more unbearable by the second. After a few minutes, she was reduced to thrashing violently on the bed and clawing at her own chest in a futile attempt to dig out the magic causing her suffering.

Suddenly, she felt a stabbing pain deep in her chest and looked down, expecting to see the hilt of the knife protruding from her flesh. Dolohov laughed, the sound seeming to come from much farther away than it should. He was sitting beside her on the bed, watching her avidly. She noticed dazedly that he was dressed again. "Ah...it's reached your heart, I think," he announced excitedly. Patting her tauntingly on the head, he said, "So long, Mudblood. Say hello to your little boyfriend in Hell. He should be arriving there any time now."

Hermione gasped for breath, but couldn't seem to take in any air around the knot of pain in her chest. The edges of her vision began to grow dark, and the room slowly faded away. The last thing she heard was Dolohov laughing hysterically, and then the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's blatantly obvious that Dolohov isn't really Harry. It's intentional...Hermione just woke up and I figured it would take her a while to catch on. I don't see subtlety or acting ability as Dolohov's strong suits.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but sorta necessary...

"How can this be happening?" Ron mumbled tearfully. He was sitting hunched over in an uncomfortable wooden chair outside Harry's hospital room.

Ginny was huddled against the wall, half listening as she struggled to come to terms with the weight of the deaths that seemed to be pressing in painfully from every direction. The hardest was Harry's, having been witness to every agonizing moment of his suffering, but knowing that Hermione had died by means of a very painful curse shocked her to the core.

The worst part was waiting for Harry to actually die. Healer Singh had declared him brain dead shortly after they had observed his memories, and all of the life sustaining spells that he had been under had already been removed, but half an hour later he was still hanging on.

"This can't be happening," Ron muttered angrily. "It can't!"

"It is, Ron!" Ginny snapped. "We have to accept it!"

"Why?" Arthur spoke up suddenly. "Harry's not dead yet, maybe he'll surprise us." Both of his children turned nearly identical dubious frowns on him, and he shrugged helplessly, "He's not dead yet."

"It's only a matter of time, Dad," Ginny sighed and wiped her eyes as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. "He fell so far. A muggle would be dead already."

"I know." Arthur sighed sadly and covered his eyes with his hand, shaking his head wearily.

Just then the doors to the lift opened and Kingsley appeared, looking more shaken than Ginny had ever seen him, which was saying a LOT at this point. "To think I actually thought things would be better with You-know who gone," he murmured tiredly. "Everything is falling apart."

"What now?" Arthur asked reluctantly.

"My men just found Narcissa Malfoy locked in an old cell in the lower dungeons of Hogwarts." Kingsley sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. "Lucius and Draco were dead in the same cell," he added quietly. Ginny gasped, feeling another weight added to her chest at the thought of Draco lying dead. She shivered, remembering the haunted look she'd seen in his eyes earlier. "I guess You-know-who's followers didn't take kindly to her protecting Harry."

"So...wait...she's alive? Why kill Lucius and Draco but leave her alive?" Ron asked.

"They killed Lucius to punish her. Even worse, they forced her to kill her own son, and then let her live, so she would suffer with knowing she ended her child's life," Kingsley explained quietly.

"How could they make her kill Draco?" Arthur asked. "Imperius?"

"They tortured him with the same knife that was used to kill Hermione. He was suffering, and they forced Narcissa to put him out of his misery," Kinsley explained with a grimace.

"Oh gods!" Ginny gasped, feeling a wave of dizziness pass over her.

"How could she?" Ron frowned. "How could she bring herself to do it?"

"I told you, the knife is cursed to cause extreme pain, but the victim doesn't die until the curse travels through the blood to the heart. Hermione was cut close to her heart, so she died fairly quickly." Kingsley paused, frowning sadly. "Draco...wasn't so lucky. The bastard cut...he cut half his scalp off, and then started to cut..." Kingsley glanced at Ginny and hesitated.

"Cut what?" Ginny didn't know why, but she had to know what had happened to the boy who had helped save the Hufflepuff girl's life just hours before.

Kingsley didn't speak, but glanced down at his own groin. Ginny frowned confusedly for a moment before the implication sank in. "It would have taken him several hours to die. He begged Narcissa to kill him."

Ginny didn't even have a chance to turn away before she threw up all over Kingsley's shoes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Major Character Death. Probably the most graphic one out of the whole story. My muse has this bizarre love/hate thing with Draco, and it was clearly swinging toward hate when I wrote this! And yes, I'm fully aware that Draco is pretty OOC in this one. He is in almost everything I write, because some bizarre part of me wants to like him (I think it' s solely because of Tom Felton, not book Draco), but he makes it really hard. lol

Draco's heart raced as he approached the far end of the bridge spanning the ravine that separated Hogwarts castle from the main gate. They had slipped away as soon as he rejoined his parents. He could now hear the sounds of battle raging behind them, but all he wanted...what he assumed all the Malfoys wanted...was to get as far from Voldemort and his deadly army as possible.

With Potter gone, Draco knew Britain was no longer remotely safe for anyone. Voldemort's delusions of grandeur had already reached a fever pitch, and he no longer even pretended to look for valid reasons to kill. Purebloods, half-bloods, mud-muggleborns (Draco caught himself with a slight eye roll...he was still trying to eliminate that vile word from his vocabulary) and muggles alike were all equally likely targets for his murderous impulses. Draco wanted no part of it anymore. Hadn't for quite some time, honestly. He was immensely relieved that his father finally seemed to be coming to his senses.

When they reached the far end of the bridge, his mother stopped and turned toward his father, saying, "I think we should stay and help, Lucius."

"We need to get out of Britain before the Aurors start making arrests," Lucius replied, shaking his head. Narcissa sighed disapprovingly and Lucius hissed, "I won't go back to Azkaban, Cissa!"

"What?" Draco stared back and forth between his parents. "Why are you talking like V- like the Dark Lord lost?"

"It is inevitable, Darling," Narcissa smiled faintly, a faraway look in her eyes.

"How is that inevitable?" Draco demanded angrily. "Without Potter-"

"Harry Potter is alive," Narcissa announced gleefully. In the dim light, her eyes glittered almost maniacally, reminding him unpleasantly of his mad aunt Bella. "The Dark Lord used the killing curse on him, yet once again, he lives!" She exclaimed giddily. "Surely the boy will finally defeat the old bastard tonight!"

Draco felt his jaw hanging loosely but couldn't seem to coordinate his facial muscles to correct this. "Huh?" He mumbled dazedly, staring at his mother.

"Your mother lied to the Dark Lord. Potter is alive," Lucius snarled irritably. "Any moment now, I expect this will become a very unpleasant place for anyone bearing the Dark Mark. So, I suggest we get moving."

Draco realized with a sinking feeling that his father hadn't changed at all. Once again, he was just trying to cover his own arse. "I'm not leaving," he declared, lifting his chin defiantly.

"Excuse me?" Lucius asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Do you want to get arrested, boy? They won't show you any pity after your role in Dumbledore's death."

"You heard me, Father," Draco replied, turning back toward the castle. "I'm not leaving while there's still hope that maniac can be killed. If there's a chance to rid the world of that monster, I'm not running away from it!"

"Oh, Draco..." Narcissa murmured proudly. Turning to her husband, she firmly stated, "You heard him, Lucius. We're going back." Not waiting for her husband's response, she hooked her hand through Draco's elbow and they began walking back toward the fighting. "You can't go back!" Lucius yelled in a most undignified manner. "If the Dark Lord lives he will know you lied to him, Cissa. He will hunt you down to the ends of the earth..."

"All the more reason to help make sure he is eliminated..." Narcissa's tone was calm, but Draco could feel her hand trembling against his arm.

Patting it reassuringly, he said, "I will never let anything happen to you, Mum."

"Isn't that sweet?" A harsh voice crooned mockingly from his right just as they reached the entrance to the courtyard. Draco swallowed nervously as he and Narcissa were suddenly surrounded by four men in full Death Eater garb. "Drop it, boy!" their apparent leader ordered when Draco raised his wand (or rather his mother's) slightly.

Knowing his father was right behind them, and assuming he would back them up, Draco ignored the man, shouting, "Stupefy!" and blasting a figure he recognized as Travers in the face before casting a quick protection spell around his mother and himself.

"Drop it or your father dies!" another voice ordered coldly from behind them.

Draco risked a peek over his shoulder and found Lucius being held at wand point by a fifth Death Eater. "Do as he says, son!" Lucius urged, his eyes wide with fear.

"Fuck!" Draco dropped the wand in his hand reluctantly. One of their captors quickly picked it up and snapped it in half, eliciting a pitiful moan from Narcissa. Travers staggered to his feet and viciously punched Draco in the nose, sending him flying back into the arms of one of the other men, who immediately grabbed his arms. Draco shook his head dazedly to try to dispel the sudden ringing in his ears and winced as the motion sent blood flying everywhere. He could feel both eyes already starting to swell shut.

"Aye, you're fucked alright, boy." The leader's amusement was vastly eclipsed by his obvious rage. Turning on Narcissa, he hissed, "You will pay for your treachery, bitch!" Snapping his fingers, he ordered the others, "Bring them inside so we can play without interruption. There's too many goody-goodies out here.

The man holding Draco shoved him forward, nearly knocking him to the ground. Meanwhile, another man grabbed Narcissa by the hair, twisting it until she let out a shriek. Behind her, Draco noticed his cousin, Nymphadora, and her husband, former Professor Lupin, bearing down on them, wands raised. He started to smile, thinking they were about to be rescued, but the couple were suddenly cut down by matching flashes of green light from somewhere behind Draco. He never saw who had killed them because his the man guarding him suddenly punched him in the kidney hard enough to force him to his knees. "Get a move on!" the masked man growled, roughly pulling him to his feet and shoving him toward the castle steps before he had a chance to catch his breath.

As they were forced through the front doors, Draco noticed Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnegan fighting with Walden McNair. They were doing fine for the moment, but Yaxley was sneaking up on Neville's right. "Longbottom! Look out!" Draco yelled, deciding that he was in enough trouble already that things couldn't get much worse. He was happy to see the larger Gryffindor turn and easily take Yaxley down with a blasting hex, at least until his own head was suddenly slammed into a nearby wall, nearly knocking him unconscious.

"Oops!" His captor smirked sarcastically before he continued to drag him along as though nothing had happened. Draco struggled to remain conscious as stars flashed in front of his eyes. He felt something trickling down his forehead and the vision in his right eye was quickly obstructed by blood. He tried wiping it away with the back of his free hand, but it was flowing too steadily to do any good.

"Leave him alone!" Narcissa yelled tearfully. "It's me you're angry with. Let Draco go!"

"Mum, I won't leave you..." Draco mumbled thickly. It felt like he'd left part of his brain behind on the wall, and he wondered groggily how he was still standing.

"How noble." The leader of the group sneered. "Moot point though. None of you are going anywhere." There was a grim finality to his words and Draco's heart sped up as it finally sank in that they were in very serious trouble. He reached over and clasped his mother's free hand, squeezing it firmly. She squeezed back and he shot her a weak smile before their guards forced them apart.

"The Dark Lord won't be happy with you," Lucius murmured quietly from the back of the group.

Even Draco rolled his eyes at this. "Why do you think we're doing this?" The leader cackled. "Your bitch betrayed him. You're all going to pay for her lies,"

"The Dark Lord is going to lose," Draco muttered scornfully. "Why not just cut your losses and run?" He gasped as the leader suddenly turned on him and grabbed a fistful of his hair, sending white hot pain through his scalp.

"If I were you I'd mind my tongue...you're almost as bad as your father." The taller man sneered. Draco swallowed nervously, but continued to look him in the eye. After a long moment, the man grunted. "It's too bad your father isn't more like you. You must get your courage from your mum's side. Unfortunately for you, her nerve is why you're going to die now..."

"No!" Narcissa began to sob, as they were hustled down a long flight of stairs. "Not Draco. Please not Draco!"

"Mum, stop it," Draco begged quietly. He could see from the sudden gleam in their captor's eyes that her begging was only going to make things worse for him. He was her biggest weakness and she was making it all too clear.

"Cissa, don't..." his father's tone indicated that he recognized this as well. "You'll do him no good, luv..."

Just then the group stopped. One of the men opened a thick iron door and they were shoved into a very dimly lit room. Draco shivered when he noticed heavy chains hanging from the walls and ceiling. The heavy clang of the door closing behind them reverberated painfully through his aching head, and he barely fought back a moan. "Hang the bitch over there..." the leader ordered, gesturing to a set of shackles hanging from the ceiling near the middle of the room.

"No!" Narcissa fought, kicking and screaming, but two of the men easily subdued her and she was soon suspended from the chains, her toes barely touching the floor.

"I don't remember giving her permission to wear clothes." The leader smirked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Make the boy remove them..."

Before he could respond, a burning pain in Draco's left forearm nearly brought him to his knees. He was dimly aware that everyone else in the room, except for his mother, seemed similarly afflicted. Pulling up his sleeve, he stared as his Dark Mark slowly faded into a greyish blob and then disappeared entirely.

Lucius seemed to recover first, letting out a harsh, humorless laugh. "He's gone." He gazed steadily at the leader. "You don't have to do this, Antonin, you can run,"

The other men's masks had vanished along with Draco's Mark. Draco shifted his gaze to the man he now recognized as Antonin Dolohov. He should have known...the man was one of Voldemort's more vicious puppets. For a moment, Dolohov seemed to almost consider his father's words. Then, his smile hardened. "We're not all cowards like you, Lucius. There's nowhere I can go that the Ministry won't follow, and you know it. My life is ruined because of your bitch wife. I may be going down, but I'm taking you with me."

"Antonin-" Lucius took a half step closer, raising his hand slightly in a placating gesture. "Surely we can find some compromise..."

"Stop talking!" Dolohov bellowed, making everyone jump. "You think you can talk your way out of anything with that silver tongue of yours, but not this time! In fact..." His eyes narrowed behind his mask and he grinned evilly. Flourishing his wand, he gestured at Lucius and flicked his wrist. "Diffindo!"

Lucius' eyes widened and he let out a garbled shout as blood began to pour from his mouth. At first Draco wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but then Lucius dropped to his knees, clutching his throat. "Father?" Draco took a step toward him, but was held back by his friend Goyle's father.

"Aww, too bad, so sad," Dolohov said in a mocking sing-song tone. "I always knew that mouth of yours would get you killed. Guess your tongue isn't so enchanting after all..."

"Lucius!" Narcissa screamed from her chains. "He's choking, you arseholes! Help him!"

Draco tried again to move closer to his father, who was now lying on his side, his face purple and his eyes bugging out of his head as blood continued to bubble from his mouth. Before he could move two steps, Goyle Senior punched him hard in the stomach and then slammed his elbow into into the back of his head, knocking him to the floor. Draco blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision as darkness threatened to overwhelm him.

When his head finally stopped spinning, his father was motionless, his face almost black. The blood flowing from his mouth had slowed to a trickle and Draco could see that his tongue was now just a ragged stump. He had choked to death on his own tongue. "Father?" Draco whispered hopelessly, knowing he'd get no response. Lucius' eyes continued to stare lifelessly at the ceiling and Draco saw red. Anger flooded his veins, and he felt his magic boiling within him. Jumping to his feet, he pointed at Dolohov and screamed, "Avada Kadavra!"

Dolohov looked amused for a moment, but then a weak blast of green light shot from Draco's empty hand. The startled Death Eater barely managed to jump out of its path, landing hard on the dirty stone floor. "You little shit!" he snarled as he stood up and slowly brushed himself off. "You'll pay for that..."

"So you keep saying." Draco sneered, clenching his fists to try to disguise the fact that his hands were shaking.

"Chain him up," Dolohov barked. "Make sure he's facing his mommy..."

Goyle Senior grabbed Draco's arm and tugged him toward the wall across from Narcissa, who was weeping brokenly as she stared at Lucius. Draco jerked his arm free, but Goyle responded by backhanding him across the face and then grabbing him by the hair near the gash on his temple. Stunned by the pain, and nearly blinded by the blood pouring from the cut (not to mention the swelling around his broken nose and his tears of pain), Draco wasn't able to resist as the bulky man dragged him to the wall and strung him up by his wrists. "I'll kill you," Draco snarled at Dolohov once his vision cleared a bit and he saw that the other man was groping Narcissa's breasts through her robes. Thankfully, she seemed too shocked to notice.

"I'd love to see you try again, little boy, but we've got other games to play." Dolohov sneered. Grabbing Narcissa's hair, he pulled her head around to face Draco. "Forget your husband, bitch. It's time to play with your darling Draco..." Nodding to Goyle, he muttered, "Get rid of his shirt."

Goyle immediately reached over and ripped Draco's shirt down the front, pushing the tattered remains off his arms, where it hung from the chains around his wrists. "Goyle, please. He's your son's best friend..." Narcissa murmured pleadingly.

"Vincent was Greg's best friend, and your brat got him killed," Goyle grunted, avoiding her gaze.

Draco decided to keep his mouth shut about what had really happened, since he'd recognized one of the other men as Crabbe's father. He was currently glaring daggers at Draco, his eyes red-rimmed and shiny.

Dolohov casually strolled over to Draco and slowly looked him over. "You know, I think I can use you for the other part of my plan. There's a certain irony to sending the Boy-Who-Won't-Fucking-Stay-Dead off to the dementors disguised as his own worst enemy. I know of an Auror who also has a bone to pick with the Malfoy family. He's here, and he'd love to get his claws into you."

Draco swallowed hard. "I won't help you hurt Harry," he said, shaking his head firmly. "Over my dead body."

"Exactly." Dolohov laughed mockingly. "All I need is your hair..." Smiling wickedly, he pulled out a knife with a long curved blade and reached for Draco's head.

Draco rolled his eyes slightly, bracing himself for more hair pulling. He was utterly unprepared when the Death Eater shoved the knife under his scalp and sliced off a largish flap of skin along with a large handful of his hair. Blood flooded into Draco's eyes, and he stared at the other man in shock, unable to make a sound as his throat closed over from the unexpected pain, which slowly intensified as his nerves belatedly registered what had happened. Within seconds the pain had become nearly unbearable.

"Draco! No!" Narcissa thrashed against her chains, weeping and screaming. Draco felt himself slowly collapsing in his own chains as the pain quickly overwhelmed him. He vaguely registered the jingle of rattling chains and then his mother's voice was a lot closer. "Help him. Heal him. Please. Please. He's going to bleed to death. Please!" Draco tried to open his eyes but there was simply too much blood for him to see anything and the simple act of trying to raise his eyelids made the pain in his head intensify. Also, someone was screaming so loud it hurt his ears.

"Shut up!" Dolohov slapped him across the face and the screams cut off as he sucked in a painful breath. He was surprised to realize the screams had come from him, and he bit his lip, attempting to keep from giving Dolohov the satisfaction of seeing him react any more. He also had a crazy hope of somehow not upsetting his mother any further. "Now...you could help him, Narcissa..." Dolohov said in a mockingly gentle tone that made Draco's heart lurch, recognizing instinctively that this was a trap.

"How?" she asked eagerly, obviously not seeing the danger. "I'll do anything!"

"Good. Put him out of his misery," Dolohov growled. "Kill him."

Draco's breath hitched in his throat, and he shook his head frantically, setting off a wave of dizziness. He realized fearfully that he had already lost a great deal of blood, between his broken nose and the injuries to his scalp. He vaguely remembered Madame Pomfrey telling him once that head wounds bled more than other injuries. He knew he had to get help, and soon.

"No!" Narcissa gasped. "No! Heal him! You can still heal him!"

"Do you recognize this knife?" Dolohov asked, sounding smug.

There was a long silence and then Narcissa sobbed, "No! How did you find that?"

"Your dear sister." Dolohov chuckled darkly. "I take it you recognize it then?"

"You're a monster!" Narcissa sobbed. Draco heard a few muffled thumps and realized his mother was hitting Dolohov weakly on the chest. "How could you? He's a child..."

"But he's YOUR child," Dolohov replied coldly. "That's what makes it so perfect. Now, what is it going to be? You know he's as good as dead. How he dies is up to you. Are you going to let him die slowly, in agony?" As if to emphasize this, he pulled on the edge of Draco's torn scalp, forcing an involuntary scream from him at the excruciating pain. "I will make sure he stays awake until the very end. I'll make sure he feels every minute of it. Or, you can kill him now, and save him the misery."

Struggling to remain standing, Draco tried unsuccessfully to open his eyes. "Mum? What does he mean? What knife?" He whispered, his throat too dry to speak more loudly.

"Oh, baby," Narcissa whimpered, her voice thick with tears. "It belonged to my great grandfather. It's c-cursed. I-it-" She let out a choked sob and trailed off, clearly unable to continue.

"Cuts from this knife are always fatal. They fester and spread until the victim... that would be you...finally dies after hours, sometimes even days of intense pain and suffering. Part of the curse is that you cannot die directly from the wounds caused by this blade, no matter how much blood is lost. You won't die until the curse finally reaches your heart," Dolohov sounded almost obscenely gleeful. "The last recorded victim was cut on the foot, and took a week to die."

Draco swallowed thickly. His head already hurt too much for him to think straight. "Mum..." He did know he didn't want to die. "Tell me he's lying..."

"It's true. Merlin help me, it's true..." Narcissa whispered, her misery obvious in every word. "I'm so sorry, baby. I thought that knife had been destroyed years ago. Your aunt lied..."

"Shocking," Dolohov murmured dryly. "But hardly the point. What's it gonna be? Do I have to make the decision easier for you? Maybe I should cut off something else? Something a bit more painful..."

A hand suddenly yanked at the front of Draco's trousers and he flinched away, whimpering. He was far beyond caring anymore about trying to appear strong. "No! Mum, please make him stop. Mum...please!" His voice ended on a hysterical note as he felt his pants and boxers jerked to his knees. He heard the other four Death Eaters chuckling uncomfortably in the background and blushed despite himself. This couldn't be happening. He should have kept walking earlier. He tried to console himself with the knowledge that at least he'd helped Longbottom on the way down here, so his death wouldn't be completely in vain.

"No! I can't! Gods forgive me!" Narcissa sobbed, just as he felt cold metal against his inner thigh.

"Too bad," Dolohov murmured coldly, pressing the blade deeper into Draco's flesh.

"Mum! Do it! Please!" Draco screamed frantically. He'd decided that he would definitely rather die now than live through any more of this. "Mum!" He howled as he felt the blade cut into the side of his scrotum.

"I love you, Draco. Forgive me, baby." The chains jingled again. He saw a flash of blond hair through all the blood, felt cool fingers brush against his cheek, and then, "Avada kedavra!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this is a good time to point out that Ginny and Ron ARE going to try to fix everything!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My muse is just evil. Sorry. Things will start getting better soon!

Ginny, Ron, Arthur and Kingsley stood silently around Harry's bed as Healer Singh carefully checked his pulse. She had called them all into the room about ten minutes earlier, informing them regretfully that she thought he was finally slipping away. Sure enough, a few moments ago he had let out a long, rattling breath and had failed to take another. Ginny clung to her father's hand so tightly her own fingers ached.

"He's gone," Healer Singh confirmed needlessly. "I'm so sorry for your loss. Feel free to stay with him as long as you'd like." She smiled sympathetically before quietly leaving the room.

Ron let out a choked sob, and threw himself across his best friend's chest, mumbling incoherently in his grief.

Ginny let go of her father's hand and bolted for the hallway. Dropping into one of the stark wooden chairs, she lowered her head to her knees and wept. Her chest hurt so badly, she'd begun to wonder if a person really could die from a broken heart. How could she have lost so many people who were so close to her in just one day? It just didn't seem fair to have won the war but lost so many of the people who had made it possible. And now Harry. The Boy Who Lived, and lived and lived again...but only until the war was supposed to be over.

The world wasn't supposed to work like this.

They were supposed to be free from all the fear and sadness that had ruled their lives for so long.

This made her think of Draco, his life literally cut short just when he might finally have been able to show his true self to the world. Murdered, just because his mum had helped Harry.

And Hermione, dying so horribly, all alone with a madman who'd killed her only because Harry had loved her. Maybe Harry hadn't been so full of shit when he said he didn't want Ginny to be targeted just because she was his girlfriend, after all.

Sighing heavily, Ginny wrapped her arms around her knees and huddled on the uncomfortable chair until her father and brother emerged from Harry's room several minutes later. Kingsley had already slipped past her a few minutes earlier, apparently lost in thought.

"Are you-" Arthur's voice cracked. Clearing his throat, he tried again, "Are you ready to go home?"

Ginny grimaced at the thought of facing the rest of her family with more bad news in the aftermath of Fred's death. It was just too much. However, she had no other options. She had no reason to stay in this dimly lit, sterile hallway, with it's infernal torture devices passing poorly for chairs. She certainly didn't want to be here to see Harry's body taken down to the morgue. "Not really, but...yeah," she shrugged, unfolding herself from the chair with a groan. "Gods, can I just sleep for a year?" She grumbled tiredly as her father gave her a warm hug. She smilied sadly when he clung to her quite a bit longer than she normally would have allowed.

Just then, Kingsley's voice rang out, echoing in the long hallway. "I hope maybe you can put off that sleep for a while longer." Looking toward the lift, Ginny spotted the Minister stalking toward them with an excited look on his face that seemed completely inappropriate in light of recent events. "I need to speak to you in absolute secrecy," he spoke urgently, motioning for them to follow him to Healer Singh's nearby office. Once the door was closed, locked and cloaked in a silencing spell, he leveled each of them in turn with a steady, piercing gaze. "This conversation can't leave this room."

"Okay," Ron agreed flatly.

"Is it about Harry?" Arthur asked, then added, "Of course, I won't say anything."

Ginny raised an eyebrow, then impulsively said, "It's about Hermione and the Malfoys, too, right? Dolohov killed them all, didn't he?"

"Very perceptive, Miss Weasley." Kingsley smiled approvingly at her, "However, I still need you to promise to keep this conversation between us."

"Of course." Ginny nodded agreeably."Should we all take a wizard's oath?"

"Not yet." Kingsley shook his head. "I might require it later, but it may be necessary for you to let a few others in on the plan before you're done, so for now I'll just take your word."

"What is this about, Kingsley?" Arthur asked a bit impatiently. He looked exhausted, and seemed to have aged ten years in the last 24 hours. Ginny glanced at Ron and noticed he was also frowning worriedly at their father.

Kingsley smiled faintly. "I've discovered something. I have been toying with the idea ever since Harry was found injured, but I didn't think it was possible..."

"Didn't think what was possible?" Ron cut in impatiently.

"Time travel," Kingsley said, a smile slowly creeping across his face.

"But all of the time turners were destroyed during the fighting in the Department of Mysteries," Arthur reminded him ruefully. Ginny shifted guiltily at the reminder.

"That is what we thought." Kingsley grinned. "But it turns out, one of the devices destroyed there was a fake. Which means there is one still at large." At this, he turned and pinned Ron with a penetrating stare. "Do you have any idea where it might be?"

Ron blinked. Then blinked again, and an excited smile flashed across his face. "'Mione returned a fake? She still has hers?!"

"I believe so." Kingsley nodded, smiling hopefully. "Do you think you can find it?"

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked confusedly.

"He thinks we can save Harry and Hermione! " Ron exclaimed excitedly. "'Mione has a time turner hidden somewhere, and if we can find it, we can save them!"

"You'll need to find it fast. You can only travel back twelve hours, and even going back such a relatively short time will likely have consequences," Kingsley said. Biting his lip, he added, "I shouldn't even be having this conversation with you, but I cannot just stand by and let things go as they stand right now." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a folded sheet of parchment. "This explains everything that has happened today. If you get into trouble in the past, give it to me, or ask someone you trust to give it to me," he said, handing it to Ginny, who shoved it in her pocket. "Most importantly, try not to do anything to interfere with Harry killing Voldemort. It's best to avoid direct interaction with anyone until Voldemort is dead." He gave Ginny and Ron each a commanding look, and they both nodded obediently. "Also, you might find that you start to have trouble remembering some things that happened last night and this morning once you start changing things. If you get confused, try keeping the time turner on your person, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Time travelers usually remember most of their original timeline. Though, normally, the point is to try not to change anything." He grinned mischievously.

"As opposed to trying to change almost everything?" Ron asked sarcastically, and Kinsley nodded.

"So...you're saying we can save Harry and 'Mione?" Ginny whispered dazedly. Then another thought occurred to her. "Fred...what about Fred?" She asked hopefully.

Kingsley frowned thoughtfully and looked at his watch. "The time turner can only go back twelve hours. You'd have half an hour to find it, use it and get to Fred in time to save him." He opened his mouth, closed it, then sighed and continued, "From what Narcissa told us, the Malfoys were taken from the courtyard near the bridge at around 5:15, shortly after the last fight began. If you don't find Dolohov there, check the older dungeons. Obviously, he'll end up in Gryffindor tower by 7:30 or so, because he turned Harry over at eight o'clock. The sooner you stop him the better."

"We have to get back before Fred dies! Let's go!" Ron said abruptly. Not waiting for a response, he grabbed Ginny's hand and she felt the awkward tug of Side-Along Apparation before finding herself at the massive gates of Hogwarts. The metal was twisted and the ancient gates hung crookedly from broken hinges. "Come on!" Ron tugged on her arm and began running toward the castle.

"Do you even know where it is?" Ginny asked, struggling to keep up with his much longer strides as they picked their way around large holes and piles of rubble. They came across far too many bodies from both sides of the battle that hadn't been recovered yet, and she wondered how many deaths they might get away with preventing.

"Where does 'Mione keep everything?" Ron panted as they finally reached the courtyard and jogged up the steps.

"Her bag!" Ginny gasped as they dashed inside.

"I know she had it here last night, so it has to be here somewhere..." Ron started up the main staircase, slipping on a pile of broken glass. "Bloody hell, we'll never make it..."

Ginny smirked. "Did you forget we have wands?" Pulling out her own, she shouted, "Accio Hermione's handbag!" then looked around expectantly.

"It can't be that easy..." Ron muttered, just before the little beaded bag flew down the stairs and smacked him in the head.

"Ha!" Ginny squealed excitedly. "C'mon...you find the time turner...I'll lead the way up to the seventh floor..." She grabbed his arm and pulled him along as she made her way up the stairs to the remains of the seventh floor corridor where Fred had been killed. Her heart was beating so hard she felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. As they skidded to a stop near the crumbled wall where Fred had died, she glanced at her watch. It was already 1:08 pm and she knew their brother had died around 1:10 am. "C'mon...is it in there?"

"I don't know...she's got too much crap in here!" Ron exclaimed. Growling frustratedly, he turned the bag upside down and began shaking it. Harry's invisibility cloak fell out and Ginny pounced on it. "Fuck this...accio time turner!" Ron yelled frustratedly.

Ginny was about to point out that he wasn't holding his wand, when there was suddenly a light tinkling sound from the depths of the bag. A long, delicate gold chain fell out into Ron's hand and he hooted excitedly. Throwing the chain around both their necks he mumbled, "Get that cloak over us!" and began fiddling with the hourglass pendant on the end of the chain.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I get yelled at, I want to make it clear that the point of this story is to show what could happen if someone completely ignored all the "rules," (I don't know if they're written or just generally understood) and blatantly misused a Time Turner. That's why the second part in this series is called "Consequences." ;-) Ginny and Ron mean well, but things are really going to be just as "broken" by the end of this story as they were before they tried to go back...everything is just going to be messed up in a different way, and it all comes back to bite them in the next story (which is already finished). 
> 
> Oh, and speaking of breaking rules, I had to tweak things a bit. Everything I could find says that Time Turners can only go back 5 hours, but I just needed more time because I couldn't leave Fred dead. I just couldn't...so I gave them twelve hours instead.

Ginny scrambled to cover them both with the cloak as the world began spinning around them. Gripping her wand tightly, she glanced at her watch again. "We're too late!" She whispered anxiously.

"Nonsense. Get Ready...shield charm..." Ron muttered, facing the spot where Fred and Percy's familiar forms were coming into focus.

"You're joking, Perce! You're actually joking I don’t think I’ve heard you joke since you were –" Fred's voice reached them as the spinning stopped. 

"Protego!" Ron and Ginny screamed in unison just as the wall behind their brothers exploded. She and Ron were both thrown clear, and quickly scrambled to their feet, watching anxiously as their past selves, Hermione, Harry, George and Percy all slowly crawled out from under the rubble.

"We were too late," Ginny moaned.

"No...look!" Ron whispered ecstatically, pointing. 

"Fred? Where's Fred?!" George was digging frantically through the debris, looking for his twin, but unlike the first time around, a bloodied hand was reaching for him from under the collapsed wall.

"Ugh...George? I think I broke my...everything..." Fred's muffled voice came from the pile of shattered rock. "Who cast that shield? I owe you a drink."

"It was Ron," Percy said, patting past-Ron on the back.

"No it wasn't," Past-Ron shook his head confusedly. 

"I thought I heard Ginny..." Harry mumbled, glancing at past-Ginny, but then shifting his gaze to the spot where Ron and Ginny were huddled under his cloak.

Ginny glanced down and noticed her foot was sticking out from beneath the cloak. Quickly pulling it back, she looked back at Harry, and he nodded slightly in their direction. "You know, some things are maybe better left unquestioned. What matters is everyone is alright." He turned back to where George was gently pulling Fred from under the wall.

"Speak for yourself, Harry," Fred was frighteningly pale, and blood covered the right side of his face, but he was alive, and Ginny had to fight the urge to throw herself at him.

Ron clearly had the same problem, because he suddenly embraced her tightly and did a wiggly sort of victory dance that threatened to displace the cloak. "We did it! We did it!" He murmured over and over, tears of joy flowing down his cheeks. 

"That was way too close!" Ginny whispered back, trying to slow her breathing and brushing her own tears from her eyes. They watched ecstatically as everyone drifted downstairs, with George and Percy supporting Fred between them.

"What do we do now?" Ginny asked, pulling the cloak off once they were alone. "We have no idea where Dolohov will be for hours yet."

"I don't know," Ron shrugged. "Harry, 'Mione and I are heading off to the Shrieking Shack, going after Voldemort. That's where he killed Snape. We could try to save the greasy git..." He looked less than thrilled with the idea, but Ginny had to agree, judging from what he'd told her earlier, that the professor's death had been really unfair.

"But how?" She asked. "If You Know Who doesn't think he's got control of the Elder wand, he might use a different one. Harry might not win."

"We let the snake bite Snape, wait for Voldemort, and us, to leave, then try giving him a bezoar and blood replenishing potion?" Ron shrugged. "I really don't think he was completely dead when we left him," he admitted guiltily.

Ginny frowned at this news, but nodded, having no better plan. "Let's go to the infirmary...we might need some other supplies before this is over, anyway..."

"Too bad we didn't have more time before we came here. St Mungo's had everything we might need." Ron sighed as they began to make their way to the infirmary. 

"It didn't have Fred," Ginny reminded him with a grin. Squealing quietly, she did another small victory dance and Ron chuckled.

"Are we always going to remember that he really died?" He asked thoughtfully. "I don't want to remember how that felt."

"I don't know." Ginny shrugged. "Hermione and Harry seem to remember all the stuff that they did when they went back to save Sirius, but who knows what really happened before they went back?"

"But...coming back was Kingsley's idea, because of Harry's dying. If Harry doesn't get hurt, Kingsley'll never send us back, and if we don't ever come back, we won't stop Dolohov, and Harry will die." Ron frowned worriedly. "Is this even going to work?"

"But we ARE back. We're changing things. Once everything has changed, there's no reason to go back. Otherwise we'd be stuck coming back over and over forever." Ginny mused. "It worked for Harry and Hermione, it will work for us," she declared emphatically.

"If you say so," Ron chuckled. "I should've thought of that. This whole thing is already giving me a headache,"

Ginny bit her lip, "It's confusing but I don't think Kingsley would have sent us back if he didn't think it could work." She shrugged uncertainly as they finally reached the infirmary. Pulling the cloak back over them, they slipped inside, but found the room deserted. A large section of the outside wall was completely gone and they could see giants moving around at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. 

"Bloody hell...we'll never find anything in this mess!" Ron wailed.

Ginny frowned as she felt a strange shift in her mind, "We have to hurry. Mum and I are on our way up here to get stuff for Fred!" She rubbed her head as her memories seemed to swirl dizzyingly. Then she blinked. "My memories just changed!"

"Huh?" Ron glanced up at her from the remains of an overturned cabinet.

"I can remember what my past self is doing right now. It's different now, because Fred's alive. Mum and I are coming to get healing supplies for him." Ginny rubbed her head. "This is giving me a headache..."

"Here," Ron grinned and handed her a bottle of pain potion before tossing a few other bottles into Hermione's bag. "At least now we know that just because we still remember Harry and Hermione, dying it doesn't mean we won't save them. We just haven't saved them YET." As he finished speaking, he held up a bezoar and smiled triumphantly. "Got it! Let's get out of here!"

Throwing the cloak back over them, Ginny dragged him to the door and they slipped back into the hallway, nearly running into their mother and her past self. She had to bite back a laugh at the suspicious expression on her own face before her mother dragged her into the infirmary. "That was close...I heard our footsteps," she sighed with relief, remembering her fears that a Death Eater was lurking near the infirmary. 

"We've gotta be more careful," Ron agreed, grabbing her hand. "C'mon!"

As they ran downstairs and across the grounds to the Whomping Willow, Ginny giggled as she remembered her own confusion when Fred, groggy from pain potions kept insisting she had been the one that saved him. 

"Shhh!" Ron hushed her as they crawled through the tunnel. "I'm not sure we've left yet."

Sure enough, they heard shuffling footsteps up ahead. Flattening themselves against the side of the tunnel, they held their breath as past-Ron, Hermione and Harry shuffled by under the past version of the cloak. She wondered briefly about the implications of two of the same Deathly Hallow being in the same place at the same time and felt her headache increasing. "I think we'd better make sure this cloak doesn't touch that one if we run into you guys again," she suggested worriedly. 

"Good idea," Ron whispered. Pushing on a few boards, he lead her through a trapdoor and into a dark room, pulling off the cloak, "He's over here," Ron whispered. "Lumos,"

In the dim light from Ron's wand, she saw Snape lying in a huge pool of blood. "I think we're too late," she sighed. The professor looked completely lifeless. 

"Let's just try..." Ron suggested. "Can't hurt,"

Nodding, Ginny cast a cleansing charm and cleared the blood from the older wizard's face and neck, wincing at the sight of the ragged snake bite. "Give him the bezoar while I try to close this up," she murmured. "Um...Vulnera Sanentur," she muttered, hoping she'd remembered Draco's healing spell correctly. She sighed with relief when the wound finally closed over. 

Meanwhile, Ron had managed to shove a bezoar in Snape's mouth, and he now began rubbing the newly healed flesh on his throat, forcing him to swallow it. Snape moaned, and Ginny smiled hopefully. Ron grinned and pulled a bottle of blood replenisher out of his pocket. Uncorking it, he poured the entire contents down Snape's throat. They waited a few minutes, but nothing happened. 

"Try another," Ginny suggested.

Ron quickly obeyed, then sat back on his heels with an expectant look on his face. Several minutes passed, and they both began to grow nervous. "We have to leave soon to get back in time for the last battle," Ron muttered anxiously, waving his wand at Snape. " Rennervate!"

The black haired wizard's body immediately jerked, and he began coughing weakly. Ginny quickly conjured a glass of water and held it to his lips. "Here, Professor..." she murmured gently. 

Snape took a few small sips, then gingerly rubbed his throat. Glancing at Ron, Snape squinted, then asked, "You came back?"

Ron winked at Ginny, "You could say that. Look...I think you're gonna live, but here's another bezoar in case you need it, and more blood replenisher. Here's a couple of pain potions, too..." he said, lining up several small bottles as he spoke. "You-Know-Who needs to think you're dead until at least 5:30, so you have to stay here. We'll send someone for you once it's safe,"

"Excuse me?" Snape raised an eyebrow incredulously. 

"Harry's gonna kill Snakeface at about 5:30, and you need to stay here until then. Don't force us to body bind you," Ginny sighed impatiently. "Please...we'll explain everything later, I promise, but right now, we've got to go find someone before it's too late,"

"Messing with time, are we?" Snape smirked, glancing pointedly at the time turner, which was still around Ginny's neck. "Careful...the Ministry doesn't approve of that sort of thing..."

"We were sent by the new Minister himself," Ron smirked proudly.

"He sent YOU? Is everyone competent dead?" Snape asked, eyebrows raised in mock horror.

Ginny realized, to her amazement, that he was actually joking with them and smiled. "Shut up and take it easy till it's safe for you to come out. We've gotta go save Draco now."

"We're saving him too?" Ron asked incredulously. 

"Did you think we'd just let Dolohov kill him that way before we stop him?" Ginny asked, equally incredulously. 

"I guess not," Ron muttered. 

"You heard how upset his mother was about his death," Ginny scolded. "She saved Harry. We can't let that happen to them."

"Plotting to save little Draco? Am I dreaming? Am I dead? Is this hell? I WOULD be surrounded by Weasleys..." Snape smirked. When they both frowned at him, his smirk changed to a faint smile, and he made a shooing gesture at them. "Go. I'll stay here until I am summoned or hell freezes over, whichever comes first. Perhaps I'll conjure some bonbons and do a little light reading..."

Ginny exchanged a confused look with Ron, then shrugged. "Let's go, we don't have time to deal with his mental issues right now."

"Clearly almost dying has not agreed with him." Ron nodded agreeably as they walked back to the trapdoor. As they hurried through the tunnel, they heard Snape giggling behind them. "What the hell is in those potions?" Ron mumbled, shuddering. 

"I don't know but I hope it wears off soon! That was just creepy!" Ginny muttered.


	10. Chapter 10

When they emerged from the Whomping Willow, the sounds of battle were already drifting from the courtyard. "We're too late!" Ginny groaned.

"C'mon!" Ron grabbed her hand and they broke into an awkward run, struggling to keep the invisibility cloak over them both. Moving as fast as possible through the ravaged grounds, they finally reached the edge of the courtyard. Neither Dolohov or the Malfoys were there.

"Dammit!" Ginny exclaimed, looking around frantically. Her eye fell on Tonks and Lupin, lying nearby, their hands joined even in death. "Oh no..."

"We didn't know where or when they died," Ron murmured regretfully, squeezing her hand. "We can't save everyone..."

"Maybe we can still save Draco. Look!" Ginny exclaimed, pointing at a flash of white blond hair on the far end of the courtyard. They began slowly picking their way through the crowded courtyard, having difficulty avoiding the many individual duels that were taking place. She quickly lost sight of Draco over the crowd. "Do you see him?" she asked, glad for once that her brother towered over her.

"If I didn't know better I'd say he just warned Neville that he was getting ambushed," Ron replied dazedly, looking amazed by whatever he was seeing on the other side of the courtyard. "Oh fuck...that had to hurt," he hissed, cringing at whatever he'd just witnessed.

"What?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"You don't want to know. This way...we should hurry," Ron mumbled, urging her forward.

As they passed Neville, they heard him ask Seamus, "Did you just see that?"

"Aye. What got into him?" the Irish wizard nodded, frowning confusedly toward the front doors.

Ron grunted and pulled Ginny up the steps, pausing to look at a dark, wet spot on the wall of the castle, beside the door. "Fuck..." he winced, shaking his head.

Ginny looked closer and realized the spot was blood. A few strands of light blond hair were stuck in the middle, caught on a crevice between two stones. "Oh my god..." she groaned, her stomach lurching.

"Come on!" Ron mumbled, pulling her inside. Looking around for a moment, he headed for the entrance to the dungeons. At the top of the stairs, they paused to listen. "You hear anything?"

"No," Ginny whispered. They slowly crept down the stairs, stopping frequently to listen for any sounds from their quarry. "Do you even know how to get to the older dungeons?" Ginny asked when they reached the hallway to the potions classroom.

"Shit...this is the wrong way!" Ron yelped. Whirling around, he lead her back up the stairs, through the foyer and down a short hallway that lead back beneath the main stairs.

"You went the wrong way?!" Ginny hissed angrily. "Seriously Ron!"

"I'm sorry! Not used to coming this way, am I?" He whispered back defensively, "You didn't know where to go at all!"

"Shut it!" Ginny muttered tersely as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The hallway was almost completely dark, but there seemed to be a bit of light coming from under a door about halfway down. "Listen..." she froze suddenly, thinking she'd heard something.

Ron listened intently, then his eyes flew open. "Screaming...sounds like Mrs. Malfoy," he whispered, pulling her closer to the door.

As they crept closer, they heard Draco say something, his voice soft and urgent. Then, "Avada Kedavra!"

"Shit!" Ron cursed. "Our best bet is surprise...how many did Kingsley say were in there?"

"He didn't..." Ginny started.

The distinct sound of fists on flesh drifted under the door, followed by Draco grunting in pain.

"Let's do this, Sis. Time for your best 'Reducto!'" Pulling off the cloak, Ron held up his wand and nodded at the door, giving her an encouraging smile.

Taking a deep breath, Ginny faced the door and raised her own wand. "On three. One. Two. Three! Reducto!" Putting all of her power behind it, she blasted the door inward. The massive sheet of iron crumpled in on itself and flew into the room, while the stones surrounding it shattered.

Not waiting for the dust to clear, Ron charged into the room, screaming, "Fumos! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Ginny raced after him, noticing that the mangled door had knocked down one Death Eater. Unfortunately, that left Ron facing three others, all of whom seemed to have blocked his spells. "Expelliarmus! Incarcerous!" Ginny yelled, smirking as her spells incapacitated one of them.

"Stupefy goddamit!" Ron yelled, finally blasting one man into the wall behind him. "Incarcerous!"

He and Ginny turned on the remaining Death Eater, who comically threw down his wand, raised his hands and yelped, "I give up! Don't hurt me!"

"Incarcerous!" Ginny exclaimed, just to be sure, then looked anxiously at Draco, who was half naked, chained to the wall across from her. His face and torso looked like one huge bruise, and his head was bleeding profusely from a cut along his right temple. His hair stuck up all over, looking more brown than blond from all the half dried blood that had soaked into it. "Did he cut you?" She demanded, staring worriedly at the cut on his head and looking for any others.

Draco just stared at her dazedly. She wasn't sure he could even see her at that point. His eyes were swelling shut from an obviously broken nose. "Wha-?"

"Did he cut you?" Ginny repeated urgently, terrified that they were too late. "With a knife?"

"No," Narcissa's voice answered her from behind. Turning, Ginny found Ron helping her out of her chains. "You came in just as Dolohov pulled out a blade, though. How did you know? Oh gods...he killed Lucius..." she grimaced, staring at the floor beyond Ginny.

When she started to turn her head, Ron said, "Don't look!" He rushed past her with one of the Death Eater's cloaks.

Narcissa raced to Draco's side and fumbled with the shackles around his wrists, "They broke my wand," she mumbled apologetically. "Can you..."

"Oh...of course." Ginny gestured at the chains and they fell loose.

Draco slid to the floor, clutching his head in his hands and moaning as his mother knelt beside him and gently rubbed his back. "Can I sign up to not be hit anymore today, please? Maybe for a couple of weeks?" He chuckled weakly, then coughed raggedly and moved one hand to his stomach.

Ginny smiled amusedly despite herself, then looked around and found Ron peeking under the mangled door at the fallen Death Eater. She glanced around at the other three men, none of whom were Dolohov. Ron looked up and met her eyes, frowning, "It's not him, Gin."

"What?!" Ginny exclaimed worriedly.

Narcissa looked up at her, then looked around at her former captors. "Dolohov escaped? He's the one behind all of this..."

"We know," Ginny nodded knowingly. "It's why we're here..."

"Huh?" Draco raised his head and squinted blearily at her. "How'd you know we were here?"

"Um..." Ginny glanced questioningly at her brother, who shrugged uncertainly.

"Um...let's get out of here and find someplace safer to talk," he murmured, gesturing at the bound Death Eaters, two of whom were listening in rapt attention.

"Right," Ginny nodded. "You've got their wands?"

Ron grinned and held up a handful of wands of various sizes.

"Cool," Ginny grinned. Turning to Draco, she asked, "Do you think you can walk?"

"I'm okay," he nodded, then moaned and rubbed his head. "Um...I can walk," he amended, grinning sheepishly. The effect, with all the blood and bruises, was gruesome. Ginny wondered if he knew he was missing two teeth, but decided now was probably not the time to point it out.

With a little help from his mother, Draco managed to stand up, and the four made their way out the door. "I'd suggest locking them up, but someone really did a number on that door," Narcissa murmured, looking fairly impressed.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Ginny grinned sheepishly.

"I can't believe you're apologizing for that," Draco chuckled, then groaned and clutched his stomach again. Ginny could already make out more bruises forming on his abdomen and winced sympathetically.

"Okay...we need to do something about that...it hurts to look at you," she declared. Opening a door a few rooms away from where they'd left the Death Eaters, she ushered everyone inside, then closed and locked the door behind them. Casting a silencing spell just in case, she grabbed Hermione's bag from Ron and turned to Draco. Pointing at a wobbly looking wooden chair, she quietly ordered, "Sit," in a tone that made it clear that trying to argue would be pointless.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her tone, then hissed in pain as the motion tugged at the cut on his temple. He ultimately obeyed without the argument she'd been expecting. "So...what's going on?" He asked quietly. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but the last thing I was expecting was a rescue from you two..."

Ginny shot Ron a look as she began pulling tubes and jars from Hermione's bag. He sighed resignedly and began explaining everything while Ginny conjured a wet cloth and gently wiped the drying blood from the Slytherin's face. To her surprise, other than flinching a few times, he didn't put up any signs of a fuss, despite the fact he had to be in a great deal of pain. Speaking of which...she reached in the bag, pulled out a pain potion, and handed it to him. "Sorry, I should've given you that first," she mumbled apologetically.

"Thanks." Draco smiled slightly before chugging the potion.

Ron paused in his explanation and said, "'Mione should have dittany in there," before continuing, "Then we found out...well...we heard Dolohov had...erm...tortured you. After Harry died, Kingsley decided to send us back to try to stop him..."

Ginny noticed Narcissa listening with wide eyes and was glad her normally thoughtless brother had decided to edit the facts a bit. Then she realized he might have already forgotten that Draco had actually been killed and not just tortured. He wasn't wearing the time turner, after all. She could remember everything from before and everything since they'd come back, and the mix of old and new memories was making her a bit dizzy.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she dug out a half-filled jar of dittany ointment and gently dabbed some on the gash on Draco's forehead. He yelped, glancing at her with a slight frown, but he said nothing before turning his attention back to Ron. Ginny stared for a moment, amazed that he hadn't given her a hard time for hurting him. Then, she cocked her head to one side, studying his nose. "This is gonna hurt," she warned, tapping his knee to get his attention as she raised her wand. She noticed that Ron had stopped talking, and both he and Narcissa were watching intently as Draco braced himself. "Sorry...Episkey!"

"Ow!" Draco yelped as his nose snapped back into place. His eyes filled with tears, but he took a few deep breaths and then seemed to shrug off the pain. "That wasn't nearly as bad as when Pomfrey did it third year." He grinned weakly, then turned back to Ron, who was now staring suspiciously at him. "What?"

"Are you really Draco Malfoy?" Ron asked. Ginny could tell he wasn't entirely joking.

"Um...not funny," Draco replied, giving him a pointed look. "For all we know Dolohov's running around disguised as me..." he shuddered disgustedly.

"Nah...he seemed to prefer looking like Harry." Ron shrugged, barely hiding a shudder of his own.

"He seemed to want to kill both of you equally..." Ginny murmured, carefully smearing some dittany over a cut on Draco's lip before sitting back on her heels to look him over more critically. She didn't see any other obvious injuries other than the bruises on his chest and stomach. The thought of rubbing dittany all over his bare torso seemed strangely appealing, so she decided it probably wasn't a good idea. "I'll let you put this on the rest of your bruises yourself...." she blushed as she handed him the remaining ointment.

"I think I might have a broken rib, actually," Draco admitted sheepishly. "My back hurts like hell."

"Oh. Turn around..." Ginny made a twirling motion with her finger and he gingerly obeyed. "Ouch!" She gasped as a huge black bruise came into sight on his lower right side. "I don't think that's your ribs... it looks like they got you in the kidney. Gimme that jar again..." she reached around and he put the jar in her hand. Their fingers brushed against each other and she nearly dropped the jar as a warm tingling sensation went up her arm. Her hands shook slightly as she scooped out a dollop of the cool ointment and gently smoothed it over the massive bruise. Draco shivered, and she quickly jerked her hand away. "Okay!" She exclaimed, grimacing as her voice came out a few octaves higher than usual.

"I don't suppose you know how to fix teeth?" Draco grimaced, turning back around as he probed around a bit with his tongue. Ginny shook her head apologetically. "Oh well. I didn't even notice them until now. I guess it's better than being dead," he said after a moment, smiling almost shyly. Growing more serious, he looked back and forth between Ron and Ginny, "Seriously though...thank you both for saving us. I know you didn't have to. You could've just gone up to Gryffindor and saved Harry."

Ginny raised an eyebrow, shocked by his use of Harry's first name, and the fact that he had actually thanked them, but decided that it was best to just mumble, "You're welcome," and leave it at that.

"Speaking of Harry, we should probably get on that..." Ron pointed out quietly. "It's almost six thirty, so we can probably catch Dolohov before he even bothers Harry and Hermione. Come on, Gin..."

"Let us help you!" Narcissa exclaimed eagerly. When they both gave her sharp looks, she added, "He murdered Lucius and I know he would have killed Draco. He needs to pay." She nodded emphatically, crossing her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowed in barely restrained rage. Ginny looked at Ron, who shrugged, then at Draco, who grinned slightly.

"You're better off to just let her have her way once she's made up her mind," Draco said, chuckling slightly.

"Good boy," Narcissa murmured, kissing him on the forehead before heading for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I'd actually bother to save Lucius, did you? ;-) Sorry, I can't stand him. He can stay dead.


	11. Chapter 11

As the four made their way up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, Draco seemed to lag further and further behind. The further they walked, the more he seemed to hunch over. Guessing that his back was still really hurting him, Ginny fell back to keep him company while Ron ran ahead with a remarkably determined Narcissa. When they left the dungeon, Ron had given each of the Malfoys one of the Death Eater's wands he had taken, just in case they ran into any nasty surprises. Draco kept glancing at his as they walked.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked after the fourth or fifth time she noticed him looking at the knobby bit of willow in his hand.

"Your brother gave me a wand," he mumbled softly.

"Well spotted," Ginny couldn't help but tease him.

"This has been the strangest day." He moved to run his fingers through his hair, but they got caught up in a massive tangle of dried blood. "Know any head shaving spells?"

"Even if I did I, wouldn't use them on you; your hair's too nice" Ginny murmured without thinking. "It'll wash out," she smiled reassuringly.

Draco smiled warmly at her, then shook his head. "I dunno...I think I'd rather change it. I don't want to look like him anymore." This was the first time he'd mentioned his father, and Ginny couldn't resist asking, "Are you okay? About your dad, I mean."

"He wasn't much of a dad," Draco mumbled. "Mum and I...we came back to the castle to fight after she told me Harry was alive. Father just wanted to run away."

"Fight?" Ginny stiffened slightly. She had thought he hadn't really participated much in the battle. She felt sick at the thought that she might have saved someone who could have hurt or killed someone on her side of the fighting.

"I...this is dumb..." he blushed slightly, "I wanted to make sure Harry killed V-Voldemort. The bastard's made my life a living hell since fourth year." He shuddered. "We only stayed in England this long because we knew that he would hunt us down if we deserted. As long as Harry was alive, it seemed like there was a chance he'd beat V-v-You-know-who eventually. Mum and I have just been trying to stay alive until then, really. When I thought Harry was dead...things seemed hopeless either way. I didn't want to stick around another minute, ya know?" He shrugged helplessly. "If I was gonna die either way, I wasn't going to pretend to suck up to V-v-You-know-who anymore. But then Mum told me Harry was alive, and I decided it was time to stand up to the bastard,"

"Oh," Ginny stared at him in disbelief, "I actually thought the other Death Eaters had just turned on you after Voldemort lost," she admitted sheepishly.

"Well, they sort of caught us before we could really do anything," Draco sighed. "Father could have backed us up...we had gotten a bit separated from him. I tried to fight them off, but he just let them take us. Just like always...putting himself first. He thought he could talk his way out of it." He frowned bitterly.

"So...wait...did you really warn Neville he was about to get ambushed?" Ginny stopped walking and stared.

"I had to do something." Draco shrugged. "I knew they weren't dragging us off to have tea. I had to make coming back worth something."

"You could've yelled for help," Ginny pointed out as they resumed walking. "Before they dragged you downstairs, I mean."

"Who would've helped us?" He asked flatly, "I've been an absolute git to everyone. Everyone hates me, and rightfully so. Do you think I don't know that?"

"I don't hate you." Ginny shrugged. He stared at her in obvious disbelief, so she explained, "You saved that Hufflepuff earlier." She shrugged again.

"How did you know about that?" He asked confusedly.

Thinking hard, she realized that this time around she'd been busy helping her mother with Fred and had never gone out to the grounds to try to assist others. She let out a sigh of relief that Draco had still found and helped the girl. "Um...I was there...the first time," she explained guiltily. "And I also saw you help that Ravenclaw girl last month."

"I know," he admitted, blushing. "I didn't want anyone to see that."

"You didn't identify Harry, Ron and Hermione at your house in March, either," Ginny continued, giving him a questioning look.

"I couldn't," Draco growled vehemently. "Everything I ever did for V-Voldemort was because Father gave me no choice, but I couldn't let them kill Harry. It would be like suicide!" he exclaimed, startling her. Lowering his voice, he said, "I heard about the prophecy after Father was arrested at the Ministry. I might be a coward, but I'm not stupid. I told you, for the last few years I've just been trying to keep breathing until Harry could kill him. Besides, I have enough on my conscience after Dumbledore," he sighed heavily, and his shoulders drooped.

Ginny cocked her head to one side slightly, "Did you know Snape was a spy? He was working for Dumbledore. Harry and the others only just found out about it tonight. Dumbledore was cursed...dying. He'd made Snape promise to kill him so you wouldn't have to."

Draco stopped dead in his tracks. "He knew? He knew what I was supposed to do?"

"Dumbledore seemed to know everything." Ginny shrugged.

Draco shook his head slightly, then yelled, "Then why didn't he help me?! I didn't want to do any of it, but they had my mum! He didn't offer to help until it was too bloody late! The Death Eaters were already in the castle!"

Ginny blinked and took a step back. "From what Ron said, Harry's pretty upset with him too. He knew all along that Harry would have to die in order for Voldemort to be killed, but he never warned him."

"Miserable, manipulative old bastard!" Draco exclaimed, kicking a chunk of rubble. "He was almost as bad as Voldemort, letting a kid do all his dirty work."

"It sounds like you had it a little worse than Harry," Ginny murmured. "I mean, Dumbledore never tortured Harry. Not physically anyway."

Draco stopped in the act of kicking another piece of debris and laughed bitterly. "Am I dreaming? Did I die? You're sympathizing with me?"

Ginny jumped a bit guiltily at the mention of his death, wishing that particular memory would go away. She wondered if the pounding headache all of this was giving her would ever go away, or if it was her punishment for messing with the rules of time. "You're alive now," she whispered, smiling sheepishly at him.

"Because you saved me." Draco stopped laughing and stared at her. "I mean, you really saved me, didn't you? I did die, didn't I?" Ginny nodded reluctantly and he stepped closer to her. "And now you're being nice to me after everything I've said about your family..." His voice cracked and he lowered his gaze to the floor, looking truly ashamed.

"Your mum saved Harry. Saving you was partially to reward her. She went crazy with grief when you died," Ginny admitted reluctantly. "But I'm really glad we got to you in time. Not just for your mum's sake."

Draco peered up at her through his messy bangs, and smiled slightly before turning abruptly and continuing on toward Gryffindor Tower. "I guess I owe you one. Let's go save your boyfriend..."

Ginny fell in beside him as they moved a bit faster than before. She kept catching him glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. Of course, she only caught him because she kept looking at him. She didn't really want to analyze her reasons for that, but she couldn't stop herself from murmuring, "He's not my boyfriend,"

She could have sworn she saw Draco smile for a second before he cleared his throat and drawled, "That's too bad. For him..." His fingers brushed over the back of her hand, sending a shiver of energy up her arm. Then, he grabbed her hand in his and tugged, "Let's go catch that bastard Dolohov so we can all get on with our lives."

Ginny smiled widely as they broke into a jog on the last staircase leading to the Gryffindor dorms.

When they rounded the corner, they found Ron and Narcissa talking to Harry, who was looking a bit disheveled. "There you are." Ron smiled as they approached.

Harry's eyes narrowed as he glanced pointedly at their joined hands, and they quickly stepped apart. "Alive and well, I see." Harry smirked a bit nastily at Draco.

"You, too." Draco's mouth twitched into his usual sneer, but he forced it into a more polite smile after only a brief struggle.

"Be nice," Ginny ordered.

"I'm always nice," Harry muttered. "I'm Harry Potter. Hero of the Wizarding world and all that, right?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ron, who was frowning slightly. "Any sign of that prick Dolohov?"

"Nope," Harry answered, popping the 'P' sound exaggeratedly. "I woke up to Ron banging on the portrait like the bloody world's coming to an end. As if I couldn't handle one stupid Death Eater." He smirked again, rolling his eyes.

"He's more dangerous than you think," Ron mumbled. "Seriously, he killed you, Harry. And Draco, Lucius and Hermione."

Narcissa gasped upon hearing for the first time that Draco had died, but Harry burst out laughing. "Not yet, he hasn't. If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed." He chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Harry, you need to take this seriously," Ginny scolded.

"Oh, I'm taking it very seriously, I assure you." Harry smiled sarcastically. "Good luck hunting cockroaches..." He snickered quietly before stepping back through the portrait hole. "You kids have fun now," he added with a mocking wink just as it closed.

Ginny's heart skipped, then began pounding. "Ron...did I ever tell you Dolohov's animagus form is a cockroach?" She asked softly.

Ron shook his head absently, then his eyes widened. "Fuck!"

Narcissa, who had been observing with a slightly perplexed expression suddenly exclaimed, "He's already sent Harry with the aurors! He got up here sooner than the first time around because you two interrupted him downstairs!"

Draco gasped, then turned and ran toward the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Ron yelled.

"He has to turn himself in or they'll never believe Harry!" Ginny yelped. "They'll kill him again!"

"Gin, if he turns himself in, those aurors might just kill HIM this time around!" Ron blurted.

"The letter!" Ginny exclaimed. "I'll show them the letter! And you need to find a way to break down that door..."

Ron grinned. "I was thinking breaking a window might be easier...Accio broom! Accio any bloody broom!" He yelled, snapping his fingers impatiently.

Hermione's bag, which Ginny had forgotten she was holding, shook violently and Harry's Firebolt suddenly flew out, followed by Ron's Cleansweep. Grabbing the Firebolt, Ginny said, "Sorry, but this might come in handy!"

"Just go!" Ron nodded, jumping on the Cleansweep and offering his hand to Narcissa, who climbed on behind him as if she'd been riding brooms her whole life.

They must have looked as shocked as they felt because she giggled. "I was a chaser for four years before Lucius and I got engaged."

Ron shook his head slightly, then muttered, "Hold on then...Bombarda!" He shouted, blasting a hole in the wall of the castle and flying outside with Narcissa clinging to the back of his shirt.

Ginny stared after them for a moment, then shook herself and jumped on the Firebolt, taking off down the hallway after Draco. Somewhat impressively, he'd made it all the way down to the second floor before she caught up. "Draco! Get on!" She pulled to a stop beside him and he climbed on behind her.

"Go!" He panted, wrapping his arms around her.

Trying to ignore how nice it felt to have him plastered against her back, Ginny guided the broom down the last few flights of stairs. They found Professor McGonagall standing in the entrance to the Great Hall, peering up the stairs, probably having heard Ron's spell. When she saw them, she frowned disapprovingly, "What in the world is going on up there?"

"Did the aurors leave with Harry yet?" Ginny demanded, ignoring her question for now as they leapt from the broom.

"Harry? No..." Professor McGonagall frowned confusedly, "It was Draco Malfoy they took. Harry turned him in..."

"I'm Draco!" Draco snapped, pushing his blood soaked hair away from his face.

Ginny squinted at him and realized that with all the blood in his hair, and his face covered in bruises, he really was fairly unrecognizable. "Sorry if this hurts..." she murmured before raising her wand. "Tergeo! Scourgify!" There was nothing she could do about the bruises, but the two cleansing spells removed all of the blood from Draco's hair and Proffessor McGonagall gasped.

"Y-you're here?" She stammered, her eyes wide. "Then who was..." She glanced toward the front doors.

"It was Harry! He told you he wasn't Draco! He was telling the truth, but you didn't listen!" Ginny growled at the older woman. "When did they leave?"

"It was Harry?" Professor McGonagall repeated in a whisper, her lips trembling.

"How long ago, Professor?" Draco snapped impatiently.

"T-ten minutes," the professor answered reluctantly.

"Fuck!" Ginny cursed. "Is Kingsley still here?"

"What? Oh, yes. The aurors are still rounding up Death Eaters. Kingsley is coordinating the search from the Headmaster's office." McGonagall pointed upwards, then turned to frown at Draco. "You and your family are on the wanted list. Where are your parents?"

"My father is dead," Draco replied quietly. "I'm turning myself in, but my Mum didn't do anything!"

"So you say." McGonagall raised an eyebrow dubiously, "I'm afraid I can't let you out of my sight, Mr. Malfoy," she sighed, stepping toward him.

"I told you, I'm turning myself in, but we've gotta stop those aurors first! Let's go, Ginny..."

"Immobulus!" McGonagall blurted. Draco went rigid, frozen in his tracks. "You're not going anywhere!"

"We don't have time to argue!" Ginny wailed, "Those aurors are gonna kill Harry!"

"Let's not be over dramatic..." McGonagall snorted. "They're just taking him to the Ministry. Everything will get sorted out there..."

"Not if the dementors get peckish on the way! And they will!" Ginny cried. "Please send Kingsley a message. Tell him Draco is HERE, and the aurors have taken Harry by mistake. He was polyjuiced by Antonin Dolohov to look like Draco. Those aurors are going to get him killed if they don't stop using him as a human punching bag and send the dementors away as soon as possible! Paul Robertson has already tortured Harry...he needs to be stopped!"

"How do you know all this?" McGonagall whispered, looking very flustered.

"It's a long story," Ginny sighed. "Please, Professor. Obviously, Draco is right here. I'm telling you, the aurors have Harry."

"Alright." McGonagall nodded vaguely. Waving her wand, she summoned her patronus. Kneeling in front of the little silver cat, she whispered her instructions, and it leapt into the air, disappearing into the ceiling.

"Thank you," Ginny sighed with relief. "I just hope we're in time,"

Suddenly, Ron's terrier patronus shot down the stairs, running straight up to Ginny, "We caught him but he'd already cut Hermione! I'm taking her to St Mungo's, but Narcissa says it's no good. She says we need to go back again. It's the only way..."

"No!" Ginny gasped. "No!" She screamed furiously and shook her fists. Turning on McGonagall, she shouted, "Please let him go." She grabbed Draco's wrist. "I need to get up to Gryffindor Tower, but I can't leave him here. If you let the aurors take him, he might die. Please, Professor."

McGonagall's mouth tightened, and Ginny thought for a moment that she would refuse. Then she flicked her wand at Draco and murmured, "Finite incantatum."

Draco went slightly limp and inhaled loudly.

"Come on!" Ginny gave him no time to recover, tugging on his arm and jumping on the broom. Once he'd climbed on, she flew out the front door and raced around the side of the castle until she found the broken window at the top of Gryffindor tower. Easing her way through the frame, she landed the broom and found Dolohov tied up on the floor, unconscious. Narcissa stood over him in tears. "What happened?!"

"He knew you were on to him," she exclaimed, "When we came in, he had her on the bed. He'd already cut her."

"How bad did he cut her?" Draco asked worriedly, obviously unaware of the implications.

"It doesn't matter. He had a cursed knife," Ginny whispered. "It's supposed to cause severe pain and death. There's no counter curse. It's what he used on you. Before."

Narcissa gasped at this news, and began crying harder.

"She'll die?" Draco whispered. "She's gonna die instead of me?"

"Not instead of you..." Ginny shook her head. It would be pointless to point out they had both died the first time. Glancing down at the time turner around her neck, she smiled and said, "Not at all!"

Before they could react, she gave the hourglass a half turn. Nothing happened, so she gave it a full turn. Nothing happened. "No! Come on! It has to work!"

"What's wrong?" Draco asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Ginny moaned, trying again.

"You're already outside your own original timeline..." Draco said, frowning thoughtfully. "You can't go back again in the same period,"

Draco quickly pulled the time turner from around her neck and looped it around his own. "I'll go."

"That won't work...the time turner is outside its own timeline too," Ginny snorted scornfully.

"Wanna bet?" Draco shot back. "I think it's just you that can't go back within this time frame. I'm going. Granger is dying and I'm not letting that happen-"

"Wait!" Narcissa yelled. "You can't do it. You had to turn yourself in to save Harry. They had to see that you're really here and they have Harry. If you come up here instead of turning yourself in, Harry might die. Give it to me," she ordered, holding out her hand.

Draco hesitated, then removed the time turner and handed it over. Narcissa draped it around her neck, smiled nervously, turned the hourglass, and disappeared.

Ginny stared at the spot for a moment, waiting for her memories to change. Suddenly, a splitting pain shot through her head and everything began to spin. Crying out, she fell to her knees, clutching her head in her hands. A dull roaring sound began pouring out of the walls, floor and ceiling, and she closed her eyes, wondering if she was going to die.

Then, she gradually became aware that Ron and McGonagall were there, too. Ron was also on the floor, screaming. As the roaring faded and the room slowly stopped spinning, his screams also quieted.

"Ginny? Ginny, can you hear me?" To her surprise it was Hermione's voice gently murmuring in her ear.

Forcing her eyes open, she blinked at the sight of her friend kneeling on the floor beside her. Looking beyond Hermione, she saw Draco gently shaking Ron's shoulder. Sitting up, Ginny looked around the room, "Where's Narcissa?"

"Hmmm?" Hermione frowned, "She was right here a second ago..." Ginny looked around wildly and spotted Dolohov lying on the floor. He was unconscious and wrapped up in ropes, just like before. "Did he pull a knife on you?"

"No," Hermione shook her head. "He burst in here and started flailing around like he was fighting something, then Ron and Narcissa burst in and knocked him out. Ron sent a patronus to tell you everything was okay, but as soon as you walked in here, you and Ron fell down screaming."

"Ron? Where's Narcissa?" Ginny frowned.

"I don't know. She was here..." Ron shrugged confusedly.

Draco walked over and looked out the broken window, then shook his head. "She's gotta be around somewhere."

"Wait. Is that a time turner?" McGonagall asked sharply, pointing at Ginny's neck.

Hermione gasped, "Is that MY time turner?!"

"Oh, yeah...um...Kingsley had to send us back to fix a few things. Dolohov killing you, Draco & Harry, among other things," Ginny explained quietly.

"Why do we care if he killed Draco?" Hermione asked, then glanced at Draco and winced. "Sorry, I mean..."

"I understand," Draco shrugged sheepishly.

"It's a long story, but anyway, we didn't manage to catch him when we saved the Malfoys, so we had to split up. Ginny and Draco went to save Harry, and I came up here with Narcissa to stop Dolohov," Ron explained groggily, finally sitting up. Glancing at Ginny, he asked, "Did you save Harry?"

"Uh...we sent a message to Kingsley," she said. "Then we got your message and came up here." Ginny frowned. They'd been successful, but something seemed off. Glancing at Hermione, she had a strange feeling like her friend wasn't really safe, even though Dolohov was incapacitated.

"What the hell has been going on here?" Kingsley's voice rang out as he stepped into the room. Turning to McGonagall, he said, "I got your message, and we intercepted the auror team that was supposedly on the way to London with Draco Malfoy. The polyjuice wore off a few minutes ago."

"Is Harry okay?" Ginny asked anxiously.

"Not entirely, but he will be." Kingsley nodded. "I had him transferred to St Mungo's. Seems he was somehow 'accidentally' beaten to a pulp by a couple of now-former aurors."

Hermione gasped at this news. "They beat him? I wanna go to him. Right now!" She scowled at Kingsley.

"That's fine. We may have some questions for you later." He nodded agreeably.

"You may use the floo in the Headmaster's office," McGonagall offered. "I'll leave Mr. Malfoy to you, Kingsley." Hermione grabbed her wand from the nightstand and the two women left the room.

After they left, Kingsley turned on Ginny. "You could get in very serious trouble for using that, young lady," he scolded, pointing at the time turner.

"It was your idea, mate!" Ron snorted. Receiving a dark look from the older man, he swallowed nervously and stammered. "I meant 'It was your idea, Sir.' It WAS your idea. Show him the letter, Gin!"

Ginny slapped herself on the forehead and pulled out the letter, eagerly handing it to Kingsley. Looking at the seal on the folded parchment, his frown turned to surprise, and he quickly ripped it open. After reading it over carefully, he looked up with a sheepish grin.

"Alright. It was my idea," he conceded. Glancing at Draco, he said, "Apparently, in the original future, I believed that you and your mother should be pardoned for any role you had in the war."

Draco gasped.

"Did anything happen since you came back that should make me reconsider that opinion?" Kinsley asked, looking back and forth between Ron and Ginny.

"No." Ron shook his head immediately. "They helped us catch Dolohov, and Malfoy did risk turning himself in to save Harry," he added, gesturing at Draco with his thumb.

"Draco told me they were coming to fight against Voldemort when Dolohov caught them. He doesn't even have a Dark Mark." Ginny chimed in.

"I did," Draco admitted quietly. "Father forced me to take it. They all disappeared when V-Voldemort died." Swallowing nervously, he turned to Kingsley, and added, "I think you should know that no one is marked now. That might complicate your search. I'd be happy to give you a list of names, though."

"Actually, several Death Eaters do still have marks." Kingsley smiled at him approvingly, "The mark only seems to have disappeared from those who took it unwillingly and never committed any serious crimes under Voldemort's orders. It seems to have stuck about, so to speak, on his true followers. Very handy, really. It makes it easier to know who to pardon. Like you."

Draco blinked, then smiled hopefully. "Does this mean it's over? I-I'm free?" He looked so surprised and relieved that Ginny had to smile.

"Yes. And I'm willing to overlook your mother's little disappearing act since she was key to Harry's victory." Kingsley nodded.

Ginny sighed with relief, but she couldn't ignore a niggling feeling that something wasn't right.

Kingsley moved toward Dolohov and flicked his wand, muttering, "Mobilicorpus!" The unconscious Death Eater rose into the air and Kingsley guided him out the door with another flick of his wrist. "Ron and Ginny, both of you should stay here until after 1:10. I'll make sure your past selves leave on this little trip so there's no paradox. I happen to know your whole family is at St. Mungo's with Fred. Seems he was miraculously saved from an exploding wall by a well placed shielding spell? It's funny there was nothing about HIM in my letter..."

"Remarkably good timing," Ron smiled guiltily. "Couldn't resist."

"I don't blame you, but you should avoid yourselves until the time loop is closed. All kinds of bad things can happen when you mess with time," Kingsley warned. "You're lucky nothing went wrong, considering how many things you've changed." Glancing at his watch, he said, "Why don't you get some rest? I'll have someone wake you so you can head to St Mungo's at one o'clock, so your family doesn't panic when your doubles disappear."

"Will they disappear or will we?" Ron asked.

"They will, Ron." Ginny rolled her eyes. "Harry and Hermione remember saving Sirius. It was the original...them...that disappeared."

"What if we don't send the other us back?" Ron asked curiously.

Ginny glanced at Kingsley, who shook his head, "Maybe you'd be twins?" He chuckled, winking mischievously.

Ron's jaw dropped, and Draco murmured, "That could be interesting..."

Ginny raised an eyebrow questioningly, and he grinned playfully and wiggled his eyebrows, then winced. Blushing hotly, Ginny lowered her gaze to her hands. "So, um, yeah. We'll go to Mungo's at one, and either replace or meet our twins." She nodded to Kingsley, who was shaking with laughter.

"Alright." Kingsley chuckled. Turning to Draco, he said, "Speaking of St Mungo's, you ought to head over there. No offense, son, but you look like you got run over and DRAGGED by the Knight Bus." Draco snorted. "No, really. It happens more than you'd think. The last guy actually looked better than you, though. Come with me, and I'll make sure no one there harasses you."

Draco glanced at Ginny, looking like he wanted to say something. Ron suddenly spoke up, "We'll come see you, mate. If we don't catch you there, we'll come to the Manor, okay?"

Ginny smiled softly at her brother, then turned to Draco, who looked utterly flabbergasted. "Go get checked out. Get your teeth fixed at least. We'll find you," she promised.

"O-okay," he stammered finally, smiling shyly. "I might just go to the Cauldron after though. I don't really want to go back to the Manor," he admitted quietly. "Especially if my mum doesn't show up."

Kingsley nodded his head toward the door and Draco followed him a bit reluctantly.

As soon as they were gone, Ron turned to Ginny and smirked.

"What?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing." Ron grinned. Lying down on one of the beds, he said, "I don't know about you, but I'm going to get some sleep." Within seconds he was snoring loudly.

Ginny walked over to Parvati's bed (judging by the pictures on the nightstand) and laid down, feeling a little too weird at the thought of sleeping on the bed Hermione had once died on. Snuggling into the pillows, she quickly drifted off to sleep, dreaming about gray eyes gazing anxiously into her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All that's left is the epilogue, but the story isn't even close to over. You probably (hopefully) noticed a few problems...that was absolutely intentional. I didn't want what Ron and Ginny did to actually work. It's sort of a cautionary tale against messing with time. My muse was being especially sadistic when she came up with this one. lol Of course, if you just want to ignore the obvious problems, you can also ignore the sequel, "Consequences," and just consider this and the epilogue to be a happy ending. ;-)


	12. Chapter 12

Shortly before one o'clock, McGonagall returned to the room to wake them. Ginny sat up and the time turner slipped to the floor. "Guess I don't need this anymore..." she muttered, and stuck it back in Hermione's bag (the one she had carried with her through time) for safe keeping. Kingsley had told them to leave the original bag where it was for their doubles to find when they went back. Ginny wasn't sure if it would just disappear at 1:10 or what, but she obediently left it there, and followed Ron and McGonagall to the headmaster's office.

"Give my best to your family," McGonagall said, smiling tiredly. Ginny could tell that coordinating the aftermath of the battle was taking its toll on the older witch.

"We will, Professor." Ron smiled and nodded politely before stepping into the fireplace, yelling, "St Mungo's!"

"Get some rest, Professor." Ginny smiled sympathetically at the older woman before following her brother into the flames.

When they finally made their way to Fred's room on the fifth floor, they found it packed with people. Their mum and dad, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy and his girlfriend Audrey, George, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet were all crowded into the cramped space. Fred was propped up on a pile of pillows, looking a bit pale, but smiling cheerfully. A large bandage was wrapped around his head.

As soon as Ginny and Ron entered the room, a loud cheer went up. Molly launched herself at them, hugging them both tightly to her chest. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Um...for what?" Ron asked a bit too innocently.

"Kingsley told us what you did," Fred replied, smiling gratefully at them. "I knew I heard your voices casting that spell!"

"I guess you owe us a drink then," Ginny teased, sitting on the edge of the bed and hugging him tightly.

"Anything you want," Fred said. "Just name it. Within my budget, of course..."

Ron laughed, leaning over for his own hug. "We're just glad we got to you in time. We almost didn't make it," he admitted, shuddering.

"Well, you did," George smiled, patting Ron on the back. "We owe you big time," he added, sitting on the bed and putting his arm around his twin.

"So...you're alright?" Ginny asked worriedly, pointing at Fred's bandaged head. "Sorry we couldn't keep the wall off you completely. It was literally down to the last second..."

"I'm fine," Fred nodded. "George and I are mirror images again, though." He grinned, tapping the right side of his head. "Lost my ear."

"Ugh," Ginny winced. "Sorry."

"Nah," Fred shrugged. "Now I'm holy too," he winked.

"So...how's Harry?" Ron asked anxiously.

"Why don't you ask him yourself? He's next door," Arthur suggested, pointing at the wall.

"Yeah...just knock first." Bill chuckled, making a face.

Ginny tilted her head questioningly.

"Having both arms in slings doesn't seem to have discouraged him and Hermione from trying to crawl down each other's throats," Charlie explained, winking.

"Why do you think we're ALL in here?" Alicia spoke up, laughing.

"Oh." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Eww..."

"I'm sure they'd want you to step in and say hello," Molly said encouragingly. "You saved their lives."

"Um, young Malfoy's been getting a bit twitchy, too. He's down in room 414," Arthur added. "They had to admit him...his kidney is ruptured."

Ginny frowned, mumbling, "Gods, I knew that bruise looked bad..."

"He'll be alright, but it's a good thing Kingsley made him come in when he did." Molly tsk'd quietly.

"Good to know, right Ginny?" Ron said, smirking widely.

"Oh shut up," Ginny muttered, but couldn't fight back a smile.

"Oooooooh...has our widdle Ginny Winny got a widdle cwush?" Fred exclaimed, laughing.

"I saved you. Don't make me take it back," Ginny retorted, sticking out her tongue. Standing up, she said, "I'm gonna go see Harry and Hermione. You coming, Ron?"

"Yup," he nodded and followed her into the hallway.

Once they were alone, Ginny stopped and turned on her brother. "Why do you keep making all these thinly veiled comments about Draco? And you were nice to him...saying we'd visit him..."

Ron crossed his arms over his chest a bit defensively. "Well, he hasn't been acting like Lucius Junior since we saved him. I figured we might as well let bygones be bygones, right?"

"Yeah." Ginny nodded, smiling. "I'm impressed that you're being so mature about it."

"War changes things. Everything could've ended so badly today, but it didn't. I'm willing to make a fresh start as long as he is." Ron shrugged, then grinned slyly, "Besides, you two can't keep your eyes off each other."

Ginny blushed. "Is it that obvious?" she asked meekly.

"Do Weasleys have red hair?" Ron laughed. "I say go for it. Life is too short for regrets. But if he hurts you, I will personally finish what Dolohov started."

"I don't even know if there's really anything happening between us, but if there is I'll be sure to tell him that." Ginny rolled her eyes. "Now let's say 'Hi' to Harry and 'Mione..." she said, pushing open the door to Harry's room.

"Oh gods, 'Mione! Yes! Just like that!" Harry's voice drifted into the hallway, sounding a bit strained. Ginny got a very brief glimpse of him lying flat on his back with his head thrown back in ecstasy. Partially obscured by the door, a mass of long brown curls covered his groin, moving slowly up and down. "That feels so good, baby..."

"We'll come back later!" Ron yelped, quickly pulling the door closed. He and Ginny exchanged embarrassed grins, both nearly as red as their hair. "Um...I'm gonna go see how Lav's doing," Ron mumbled, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"Oh gods, Ron," Ginny wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Didn't you learn anything the first time around?"

"I'm just going as a friend!" Ron exclaimed defensively. "The girl just got mauled by a werewolf for Merlin's sake!"

"Mmm," Ginny sighed. "Maybe you should bring Bill with you," she suggested. "He might be able to answer any questions she might have. Or at least show her it's possible to have a pretty normal life after being attacked."

"Good idea." Ron smiled, slowly backing toward Fred's room. "Say 'Hi' to Draco for me." He grinned, winking.

"I will," Ginny rolled her eyes, turning toward the lift.

When she reached room 414, she stopped to take a deep breath, smoothing her shirt as best she could before knocking quietly.

"Come in!" Draco's voice called out immediately, making her wonder whether he'd heard her in the hallway or if he'd just been waiting for her to come see him. Smiling nervously, she opened the door and blinked.

Draco was sitting propped up on the bed, much like Fred. What confused her were his guests. Tonks and Remus Lupin were sitting on a couple of the hospital's atrocious wooden chairs, and Andromeda Tonks was perched on the side of his bed with little Teddy in her arms. Ginny rubbed her head, staring at Tonks and Remus. For some reason she felt like there was something extremely off about them being there.

"Ginny!" Draco smiled happily as she slowly stepped into the room, feeling like the situation was very wrong but unable to pinpoint exactly how. "You came!"

"H-hi," she mumbled, smiling weakly when Tonks gave her a friendly wave. Turning to Draco she said, "I told you I would. Ron says 'hi'. He went to go check on Lavender."

"Oh." Draco smiled again. "Um, you know Professor Lupin and my cousin..." he gestured at Tonks and Remus, and once again, Ginny couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. "And my aunt Andromeda...."

"Hello Ginny." Andromeda smiled warmly at her. "I told you to call me Andi," she scolded Draco gently.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny blurted at Tonks, unable to help herself.

"Um, Mum wanted to come see Draco when she found out what happened. Kingsley told us Narcissa's gone missing," Tonks explained with a shrug.

"She hasn't turned up yet?" Ginny asked, surprised.

"Well, Severus Snape has also turned up missing," Andromeda murmured, smiling mysteriously. "The two of them used to be...close, back in school."

"Ew!" Ginny grimaced, then blushed. "I mean..."

Remus laughed, "No, I think that 'Ewww' sums it up nicely. After he and Lily had their falling out, he became quite close to Narcissa. She seemed enamoured with him, until her family arranged her marriage to that bastard Malfoy," he explained. Turning to Draco he smiled apologetically, adding, "No offense...."

"None taken." Draco shrugged carelessly, "Though I'm pretty sure my grandparents were married..."

"Anyway...we think they may have taken off together." Tonks shrugged uncertainly. Turning to Remus, she nudged him with her elbow. "We should probably get going, Luv. Mum?"

Andromeda glanced back and forth between Ginny and Draco, then quickly rose to her feet with an amused smile. "Yes, Dora. Let's leave these two alone. I sense a serious discussion pending..." she winked teasingly at Draco who turned faintly pink around the ears. "Let me know when they say you can come home, dear," she ordered, kissing him on the forehead. "It'll be so nice having the family back together."

"I will." Draco nodded. "Thank you for coming to see me," he added shyly.

"Oh, darling, I would have come to see you almost eighteen years ago if your father would have allowed it," Andromeda said, smiling warmly at him. Hefting Teddy higher up on her shoulder, she turned to her daughter and son-in-law and asked, "Ready?"

"After you," Remus gestured at the door. Andromeda and Tonks filed out, and he followed them, nodding politely to Ginny as he passed by. The door swung shut behind them with a click.

Turning back to Draco, Ginny found him staring intently at her. "Um...hi," she mumbled awkwardly, feeling more nervous now that they were alone with no life or death missions to fulfill.

"You said that already," Draco teased. Patting the spot Andromeda had just vacated, he asked, "Why are you way over there?"

Shrugging uncertainly, Ginny slowly moved closer and sat down beside him. "Um...so..." she rubbed her neck uncomfortably, wishing she could think of something intelligent to say. She couldn't recall ever being so affected by a boy. Not since Harry when she was ten.

"So..." Draco nodded. Reaching out, he gently took her hand in his and squeezed. Ginny jumped slightly. "I don't bite," he murmured soothingly. "Unless you want me to," he added, winking mischievously.

Ginny stared at his mouth, blushing, "Um..."

Draco sighed and released her hand. "Look, maybe I misread things. Maybe it was just all the adrenaline or something, but I kind of thought...it seemed like maybe there might be something...you know...between us. Maybe it was wishful thinking..."

Ginny smiled shyly, her heart rate accelerating. "Do you want there to be?"

"I know I've been a jerk to you, but I've always been...kind of fascinated by you, Ginny," Draco admitted softly. "You're so smart and pretty. And strong. I heard how your spell pretty much destroyed the Department of Mysteries. Even my father was impressed by how powerful you were. When you showed up and saved me earlier, you were like some kind of avenging angel. You were amazing!" He took her hand again, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of it.

"I've been wondering for a while how much of your rotten behavior was an act," Ginny murmured. "So many things didn't add up. Harry said you didn't really seem to want to kill Dumbledore, and then you refused to identify him, Ron or Hermione back in March, even though you obviously knew it was them. And then you saved that girl's life earlier. I didn't know that spell...she would have died."

"You picked it up pretty quickly," Draco winked, running his free hand over the fresh scar on his temple. Growing more serious again, he asked, "Is there any chance you'd let me prove just how much I really don't hate you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ginny chuckled nervously as her heart leapt in her chest. "I think that might be the most convoluted pick up line I have ever heard," she teased, stalling for time. She couldn't deny being attracted to him, but six years of witnessing and being on the receiving end of his bullying behavior were making it a little difficult for her to trust her instincts, which, surprisingly, were screaming for her to go for it.

"Yeah, yeah." Draco rolled his eyes. "Just answer the damn question!" He pouted playfully, then squeezed her hand again, staring into her eyes. "Give me a chance? I promise you won't be sorry."

Ginny glanced at his lips, then licked her own and shifted her gaze back up to his eyes. She was shocked by the sincerity she saw there. "Yes." She finally nodded, making up her mind.

Smirking sexily, he whispered, "Was that so hard?" Slipping his free hand into her hair, he pulled her closer and captured her lips with his own.

Ginny stiffened slightly out of pure shock, but immediately relaxed into the kiss, sighing contentedly. His lips were softer and smoother than any guy she'd ever kissed, and despite everything they'd been through in the last twenty-four hours, he tasted like chocolate and smelled faintly of oranges. When she sighed, he gently flicked his tongue over her lower lip then slid it into her mouth as they both tilted their heads for better access.

Moaning softly, Ginny returned the favor, running her own tongue over his front teeth. Giggling, she mumbled into his mouth, "Got your teeth back, I see..."

"Mmmm..." he chuckled, pulling away just enough to press a series of light kisses along her jaw to her ear. "How do you smell so damn good after running around fighting all night and day?"

"I was gonna ask you that..." Ginny laughed, reaching up to direct his mouth back to her own. "Less talking, more kissing..."

Growling softly, Draco pulled her further onto the bed, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist as she laid down partially on top of him, carefully avoiding putting any weight on the bruises across his abdomen. "No arguments here," he mumbled, slipping his tongue back into her mouth and proceeding to leisurely explore her teeth, tongue and tonsils as she ran her hands over his neck, shoulders and chest. When she flicked one of his nipples with a fingernail, he groaned loudly and pulled away, panting. "Owww!"

"Sorry!" Ginny glanced down at his chest but didn't see any obvious injuries to that particular spot.

"It's not you. My back is killing me," he gasped, reaching back to rub his injured side. "Pain potion wore off."

Ginny frowned worriedly and climbed off the bed. "I'll go tell the nurse," she said, quickly crossing to the door and pulling it open to find Ron standing there. They screamed in unison. "Gods! Ron! Don't do that!"

"Don't YOU do that!" He retorted. Looking her over, he smirked amusedly. "Well, you look rather thoroughly snogged, Sis. Should I come back later?"

Ginny punched him in the arm. "Don't be a prat! I've gotta get a nurse. Draco's back is hurting..."

"Never thought I'd see the day I'd give a shit that 'Draco' was in pain..." Ron chuckled incredulously. Stepping aside, he gestured for her to go by him.

"Or that you'd be visiting him in the hospital?" Ginny asked, nodding understandingly.

"Or that you'd both stand around talking about me like I'm not right bloody here?" Draco chimed in grumpily.

"Actually, that part seems normal." Ron chuckled. Pushing Ginny gently toward the nurses station, he walked into the room and sat on one of the chairs. "Listen, mate...if you're gonna date my baby sister, we need to set some rules..." he announced, giving Draco a stern look.

Draco gazed pleadingly at Ginny. "Please hurry!" Ginny laughed and nodded, turning to leave. "And leave the door open!"

Ginny laughed all the way to the nurses station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are obviously a little wonky. You can either take this a a happy ending, or you can read the sequel, "Consequences," which I'll start posting soon. ;-) There's actual smut in that one, I couldn't really work it in here. Stupid plot. lol


End file.
